Eight in 10 small business owners want to be greener – but don’t know where to start.
A study of 500 UK SME owners found despite 91% believing it’s important to be sustainable, they struggle due to a lack of guidance (42%), efficient carbon footprint data (37%) and time (37%).
Businesses understand the growing importance of sustainability
Many owners are unsure how to take steps to go greener in their operations
While 83% think the government needs to do more to educate and support businesses in their sustainability efforts.
Despite this, 67% currently have a strategy in place for their enterprise, although 56% are reluctant to introduce a policy because they feel it’s too late to reverse climate change.
And a confident 84% feel their company is as environmentally friendly as it claims to be.
Some of the top ways businesses are trying to be more sustainable include recycling waste (36%), using energy-efficient appliances (26%) and environmentally friendly cleaning products (26%).
The research, commissioned by the UK’s leading climate action brand Ecologi, found many are also going paperless (27%) and investing in smart plugs (20%).
But three quarters feel overwhelmed about how their organisation can tackle climate change and seven in 10 don’t fully understand the terminology used such as ‘net-zero’.
Elliot Coad, CEO and co-founder of Ecologi said: “It’s promising to see how many businesses are already trying to make sustainable changes, but concerning that so many are still confused and some even believe it’s too late to make a difference.
“We aim to help businesses and individuals understand the steps they can take to become climate positive and enable them to tackle sustainability in a simple and accessible way through a monthly subscription.
“With collective action, the smallest of changes can have a big impact.”
To help SMEs find out if they’ve got what it takes to run an eco-friendly business, Ecologi has created a quiz highlighting different environmental scenarios to reveal how they would suffice.
The study also found a third are planning to make changes to improve the sustainability of their business as soon as within the next six months.
Almost three quarters (72%) of owners believe such initiatives are worthwhile and 85% said it’s important for their company to be considered sustainable.
And 61% even market and advertise their environmental credentials.
But three in 10 still admit their business ought to be more sustainable than it currently is, with 24% blaming the pandemic for getting in the way of their short-term plans.
A further fifth (22%) feel their plans have been hit by supply chain issues and recent energy and fuel price rises are also causing 63% to be concerned.
SME owners predict 26% of their turnover is spent on green initiatives and 33% believing they personally drive the change in their company.
But they’re not doing it alone, with 22% of businesses having a dedicated chief sustainability officer and eight in 10 admitted younger employees place more value on such measures.
In comparison to their personal lives, 24% of those polled via OnePoll admitted they are more sustainable at home than in work – where they have installed solar panels (40%) and changed to a renewable energy supplier (28%).