Help SMEs become green, says FSB

SMEs are keen to embrace the Government's vision of a low-carbon economy - but they need help to meet emission reduction targets, a business group has said.

According to a new report from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), firms are "keen to go green", but there need to be incentives in order to make owners proactively pursue a green agenda.

Making sense of going green - small businesses and the low carbon economy suggests ways that SMEs can contribute towards the target of reducing carbon emissions by 20% by 2020. However, it says that the Government must "make going green economically viable", pointing out that 44% of small businesses rent their premises - many for fewer than five years.

According to the FSB, this means that neither landlord nor lessee has a vested interest in making buildings - which account for some 47% of the UK's carbon emissions - more environmentally friendly.

However, the group says that a change in this outlook could be spurred on by incentivising banks, energy providers or construction companies to provide the upfront costs for major work to improve energy efficiency, and by offering an amnesty in increased business rates to those who raise the rateable value of their property by improving energy efficiency.

In addition, the federation suggests expanding the existing zero interest Carbon Trust loan scheme, which allows firms to borrow between £3,000 and £100,000 in order to buy energy-efficient equipment - only paying back the cost as they begin to realise savings through lower energy bills.

According to the Carbon Trust, SMEs have an average energy cost saving of 20% - the greatest potential across all sectors of the economy.

FSB national chairman John Walker said that the transition to a low-carbon economy is "more of an economic imperative than ever", urging the Government to recognise the "huge part" which small firms could play, in the upcoming Energy Bill.

"If the correct policies are put in place now, then small businesses will have the potential to significantly reduce carbon emissions while also delivering the substantial economic growth that the UK economy desperately needs," he added.

Welcoming the findings of the report, Mike Childs, head of climate for Friends of the Earth, said that there were opportunities both for small businesses to make savings, and also for jobs to be created in improving "the UK's woefully inefficient buildings". He also suggested that businesses would have increased confidence in what their responsibilities will be if the Government gets the regulation and taxation regimes right at this stage.

Meanwhile, the charity pushed a similar message in response to Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne's Building the economy of the future speech earlier this week, during which Mr Osborne set out how he believed spending cuts could deliver a fairer economy.

Executive director Andy Atkins called for the chancellor to invest at least £2 billion each year in the Green Investment Bank - the creation of which is currently under discussion.

"The only fair future for the UK is developing an economy based on low-carbon expertise, employment and investment," he added.

IMAGE DON DENTON/The Canadian Press/Press Association Images

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