New research suggests small businesses are maintaining a commitment to tackling the climate emergency despite the immediate economic challenges they face.
Many of these SMEs would like to see the government take more of a lead to encourage and support their green initiatives.
The study, conducted by MaruBlue on behalf of Novuna Business Finance, sampled 1,228 small business decision makers spanning all key industry sectors.
Despite the tough economic climate, 85% say they are working hard to put green issues higher up the agenda within their enterprise.
Nationally, 17% have green issues on the agenda for senior management meetings, 17% run green incentives for their staff, 21% encourage staff ideas on green projects and 16% run staff education programmes on the urgency of climate change issues.
These positive steps continue despite the seismic barrage of economic challenges they face. And only 20% of small business owners believe the national and local government are doing enough to champion the issue.
Nationally, 28% of enterprises felt the government should give small businesses clearer guidelines on what steps they can take to help supply chains become greener. This was most strongly felt in three sectors – transport and distribution (40%), medical services (39%) and manufacturing (36%).
For those businesses where staff had returned to the workplace, there was a stronger belief that the government should give clearer guidelines and advice on how small firms could make their supply chain greener (33%, compared to 22% of enterprises where staff worked from home).
“Successive governments have done a great deal to support Net Zero and the green agenda but, despite the current and immediate economic challenges, now is the time to maintain a focus on the climate commitments made in recent years,” said Joanna Morris, head of insight at Novuna Business Finance.
“The global debate on climate change often focuses on major businesses and their role as change agents. Yet it is clear from our research that the small business community has a vital role to play.
“Combined, they employ three fifths of the UK workforce and their relative size and agility means they can adapt more quickly. Furthermore, whilst many small businesses are making good progress on the road to becoming Net Zero and sustainable, they expect government to take a lead – to devise policies, offer support and frame guidance that small businesses can follow.”