A survey of more than 500 UK SMEs has revealed an increasing interest in energy efficiency, with companies increasingly concerned about their energy spend and environmental impact.
The 'SMEs and Energy Efficiency' survey, commissioned by the Carbon Trust, interviewed micro, small and medium sized businesses (up to 249 employees) about their attitudes to towards sustainability and the actions they have taken to reduce energy consumption.
Over 80 per cent of the SMEs surveyed have taken action on energy efficiency, with just over half (51 per cent) saying they wanted to do more.
LEDs most popular
The most popular energy efficiency measure was the installation of LED lighting - one in two businesses have now made this change. Other popular measures included the installation or improvement of insulation, and the monitoring and reviewing of energy usage.
Over 60 per cent said they were concerned about their energy spend - compared to just 46 per cent when the Carbon Trust conducted a similar survey in 2016.
‘More to be done on climate emergency’
However, the survey also found that SMEs are yet to fully appreciate the full impact of climate change to their business.
“While almost nine in ten SMEs surveyed knew that international governments have declared a climate emergency (and were unanimous in their support for this), anecdotal evidence suggested that most SMEs thought it wouldn’t impact their business,” said Laura Timlin, director of the Carbon Trust.
“With revised regulation, energy cost changes, supply chain impacts and new customer preferences resulting from the climate emergency, it is unlikely that any SMEs will be unaffected by climate change. Clearly, there is more work to be done to communicate the impact of the climate emergency sufficiently well to all parts of the economy.”
Support from experts
When asked what support they needed most to help them take action, SMEs most commonly cited access to funding and grants, training on how become more sustainable and advice from local experts. Greater Manchester SMEs can access all of these services from GC Business Growth Hub. For more information, click here.