Over 60% of small and medium-sized businesses have reported that the recession has had no impact on their environmental policies, according to a survey conducted by the Forum of Private Business (FPB).
The data also revealed that only one in five small firms are delaying embracing environmentally friendly measures because of the recession and 17% stated that the economic downturn has made them more likely to implement green measures.
In total, around two thirds of respondents identified barriers to implementing energy-efficiency processes. The main two reasons were the costs involved and because businesses in rented premises saw no reason to pay for improvements of benefit to their landlords.
It is important to emphasise that measures to reduce carbon emissions can mean savings on the bottom line
Other barriers include:
- Planning issues
- Time
- Payback period
- Lack of support
- Lack of information on technology
- Suppliers over-packaging their goods
- Lack of knowledge about where to access grants and information
- Technology not being advanced enough to be practical, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) compared to standard light bulbs
"It is important to emphasise that measures to reduce carbon emissions can mean savings on the bottom line, but we also need a more joined-up approach from the Government including a system of workable incentives that are rewarding rather than punitive."
The most popular measure for improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions is regularly monitoring fuel bills (52%), followed by upgrading commercial premises (48%), investing in technology (43%) and reducing the use of resources (39%).
Most small firms are motivated to make environmental changes because they believe it is the right thing to do, with 83% of respondents listing this as their motivation.
Other motivations are improving the company's reputation (57%), saving money (48%), because it makes 'business sense' (48%), assistance in winning government contracts (13%) and recruiting the right people (13%).