Survey says slowdown means businesses ‘too busy to be green’

In the research by YouGov for energy company E.ON, 71% of senior business leaders predict that the UK is either heading for, or already in, a recession. Nearly half say that this will impact their ability to be ‘greener’ by cutting back on the time and resources they dedicate to saving energy. But companies can actually do the opposite and, says E.ON, increasing energy saving efforts in a downturn can bring real benefits. Many low-cost or no-cost energy saving measures, such as turning off lights and equipment when not in use, can lead to tangible savings – saving 20% on energy use can add the same amount to profits as a 5% increase in sales. Across the UK, 34% of companies say that they will be taking energy action in 2008, though four in 10 businesses admit they are still ‘not doing as much as we could’ for the environment. Just one in eight actually plans to increase their energy saving initiatives in 2008 to help save money. While more than half of all businesses say that they have a moral obligation as a business to reduce their environmental impact as much as possible, four in 10 companies said that there wasn’t much they could do as a lone company, and felt that whatever they do ‘wouldn’t have much effect’. More than one in five said their company already does enough and others need to pull their weight. And although energy is more of an issue than 12 months ago for one in five businesses, 86% of all those questioned still don’t have someone dedicated to managing their energy use. Jim Macdonald, commercial director at E.ON said: “It’s understandable that businesses put energy saving on the back burner when they are focused on the short term. But saving energy is one of the simplest ways of saving both money and the environment, in the short and the long term, simply by changing bad habits and being more resourceful.” Half of all UK businesses have taken action to reduce energy consumption in the last 12 months. Examples of energy action taken include: - Carrying out an energy audit 21% - Installing more energy efficient equipment 45% - Installing energy efficient lighting 53% - Lowering heating/air conditioning 46% - Having a staff energy saving campaign 35% - Switching to a green energy tariff 6%