A third of small businesses have formal Net Zero plan in place

Together for Implementation: With COP27 this week bringing world leaders together to accelerate global efforts to confront the climate crisis, there is a major focus this year on translating pledges into concerted action and effective plans for implementation. New UK research suggests small businesses are already well into the journey of translating words into action.

Since the 2021 Glasgow COP26 conference when world leaders committed to tackling the climate crisis; the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the global energy crisis, and political upheavals have delayed implantation on climate action.

Novuna Business Finance has surveyed more than 1,000 small businesses to better understand their drive for sustainability from pledging to implementing amidst a year of global economic uncertainly.

COP26 set out targets for governments across the world to monitor and reduce carbon emissions by the year 2050, in a bid to keep global temperatures below 1.5 degrees of warming. Already, 31 per cent of UK small businesses are in step with this target and are actively looking to reduce carbon emissions.

Implementing: Of those working towards Net Zero, 13 per cent of small businesses in the UK have said they believe their business is already operating at Net Zero and 31 per cent have a formal Net Zero plan in place that they are working on.

In addition, 45 per cent of enterprises don’t yet have a specific plan but are taking positive steps towards carbon reduction.

Green agenda: The vast majority (85 per cent) of businesses are finding creative ways to put sustainability higher up the agenda, with some of the top initiatives including: looking for greener ways to do things (27 per cent), 21 per cent having a staff suggestion box, 17 per cent discussing green issues in senior management meetings and 16 per cent have invested in green initiatives for staff.

Whilst good progress has been made this year, for around one in four small businesses this year’s economic challenges threaten to slow down progress going into 2023. Just under one in four small business owners (23 per cent) said they struggle to balance climate issues with the prevailing economic pressures they face.

With rising cost of living and economic uncertainty, financial limitations have been cited as a significant barrier to making further progress on sustainability with 24 per cent of respondents saying they no longer have the budget.

Joanna Morris, head of insight and marketing at Novuna Business Finance commented: “There is a clear and strong willingness from small businesses to do more in the fight against climate change. Many have put sustainability higher up the agenda and are looking for genuine ways to make authentic changes to their business and to positively impact the broader community. “

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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