Budget: Money for Environmental Audits Need to Actually Help Businesses Go Green March 21, 2007
Posted by liverpoolchamber in British Chambers of Commerce, Environment.trackback
Commenting on the Budget announcement that an extra £100 million will be given to business service providers to encourage and advise small-to-medium sized businesses (SMEs) on energy efficiency Natalie Evans, Head of Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce said:
“We welcome this extra funding to assist small businesses to go green. However, it is important that this money will actually be effective in meeting this aim.
“SMEs account for 50% of business energy use so if the Government wants to meet it’s Climate Change Bill targets they need to ensure that they support and enable SME’s to become more energy efficient.
“SMEs are keen to become more energy efficient as a greener workplace creates a more efficient and profitable business.1
“The current system of Environmental Audits has been ineffective with 62% of respondents in a recent survey undertaken by BCC saying that they felt current government initiatives to promote energy efficiency were unsatisfactory.2
“If the Government wants to meet the challenge of climate change it is important that this extra funding is not wasted, but is properly targeted and made easy for business to access so that SMEs see a real positive change in the current support provided.”
A recent survey of businesses undertaken by the British Chambers of Commerce “Energy Efficiency: The Challenge for Government and Small Businesses”, some of the key results were:
1. 81.8% of our members cited a reduction in their energy bills as an important motivator in being more energy efficient.
2. 62% of our members felt that Government initiatives to promote energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions had been ineffective.
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