British businesses leading the green revolution

British businesses will set the European standard when it comes to going green over the next two years, according to a survey taken on behalf of the European Commission.

However, the report established that just a third of UK companies have developed or contributed towards their own environmental products.

The Eurobarometer survey set out to analyse how around 21 million SMEs within the EU were adapting to and promoting resource efficiency.

According to the report, UK SMEs are among those leading the way when it comes to saving resources, and in particular energy and waste. In fact, 83 percent of those that participated in the survey admitted to adopting practices and measures geared towards saving energy, compared to the average of 64 percent of other bloc countries.

The financial incentives of going green, through such initiatives as the feed-in tariffs, and tighter emission standards have resulted in a sharp rise in the implementation of green technologies and practices by UK businesses.

Efforts made by UK firms to save energy and waste will also top any other EU SMEs over the next few years, according to the report, with more than 80 percent taking extra steps to save energy, and a full 90 percent increasing their efforts to recycle and minimise their waste.

Plans are also in place to double the use of renewable energy by UK firms during this two-year period. Currently, only 12 percent of the UK’s SMEs make use of green energy, yet by 2014 this is expected to rise to 27 percent.

“I am happy to see that SMEs are taking on this huge untapped potential, which will pay off with more innovation, more competitive SMEs and more jobs, said European Commission vice president for industry and entrepreneurship Antonio Tajani.

“However, there is still a lot of work to do. Only few European SMEs extend their green business to foreign markets. Knowing that the EU makes up roughly one third of the world market for environmental industries means there is a huge potential for SME growth.”

 

Images: Climate Action Stock Photos