Fund managers expect a carbon tax to have a limited effect on their portfolios.

"As to the question of whether there will be a dramatic impact on the companies we are holding, we think it will be limited," Celeste Funds Management portfolio manager Frank Villante said.

Villante said the fuss created by some sectors in the Australian economy would turn out to be a storm in a teacup.

"In a few months time it will be: carbon what?" he said.

Villante runs a predominantly small-cap Australian equities fund.

Resources companies comprise more than 40 per cent of the Australian small-cap universe, while companies that provide services to the resources sector take up another large chunk.

But Villante said most of those companies were exploration companies that did not produce much carbon dioxide.

"Many companies are explorers; they only have a hole in the ground or some exploration entitlements. They are trust-me-it-will-all-come-good-one-day companies. These companies have no impact from carbon pricing," he said.

Investors Mutual head of investment research Hugh Giddy said Australia's large-cap companies were likely to feel the brunt of the new legislation, as the 50 largest companies would be responsible for paying 75 per cent of the tax.

"Large caps will have a bit more impact; they are more likely to be the polluters, if you will," Giddy said.

But the impact will largely depend on how companies adapt to the new taxation regime. "The question is how much can they pass on to the customers?" Giddy said.

"The government doesn't want the cost to be passed through because they want to change behaviour [of the polluting companies]. But if the consumers act like they don't care, we are not going to reduce emissions."

A Goldman Sachs report published on Monday estimated that even if companies were unable to pass on the taxation, the impact of the carbon price on Australia's 200 largest listed companies would still be relatively modest.

The report said the impact of a $23 per tonne price in the 2013 financial year would have a negative impact on ASX 200 company earnings of less than 0.5 per cent.

Asset management firm Hunter Hall, which attaches much value to environmental issues, said the price of the carbon tax was already largely factored in by most companies.

"First of all, we are supportive of the price on carbon for all the reasons you would expect an ethical investor to be," Hunter Hall ethical analyst and head of strategy and development Michael Walsh said.

"We do have exposure to a handful of resource contracting companies, but I don't think that this will have a materially negative impact on their pipeline. I think their pipeline commitments reflect the knowledge that a carbon price of this degree was possible."

The introduction of the legislation next year was also unlikely to give a meaningful impetus to the renewable energy sector, Walsh said.

"I don't think it is really going to change the game for the renewables industry because the carbon price is not such that it would make solar competitive," he said.

"While the coal industry might say 'this will damage the industry', they will find a way to operate."