Green Guide for SMEs from the Carbon Trust

The Carbon Trust has launched a green guide to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) take advantage of the green goods and services industry. This guide is intended to help Britain’s small firms to seize green opportunities by cutting costs or developing greener products and services.

The free ‘Green Your Business for Growth’ guide includes information on how SMEs can find opportunities for green growth and develop a strategy to implement the changes. The guide contains information on how smaller companies can boost their competitive advantages while reducing their environmental impact. It also includes templates for energy and environment policies and a checklist to assess current sustainability.

The green market is estimated to be worth £112 billion in the UK and £3.2 trillion worldwide. A Carbon Trust poll found that 65 per cent of consumers want to purchase products from environmentally responsible companies. Despite these numbers and the fact that businesses are benefiting from greening their operations, recent research conducted by the trust revealed that SMEs are misinformed about the potential of the green economy. More than half see a greener economy as a threat, while a roughly equal number believe that you need a lot of capital and only about 1 in 5 believe investing in green products and services will lead to higher profits.

The Carbon Trust is trying to combat misinformation with important facts. In addition to saving 29.5 million tonnes of CO2 and £2.6 billion in energy costs for its customers, The Carbon Trust is also pointing out the risk exposure for SMEs that do not embrace the green economy. As larger firms look to reduce carbon in their supply chains, companies that fail to implement more sustainable practices will lose out to greener competitors.

The Carbon Trust points to a number of SMEs it has worked with that have reduced costs, won new business and built customer loyalty.

Click here to download the guide.