SMEs baulk against £3.1bn in green costs

UK’s entrepreneurs are baulking against implementing environmental measures
after being slugged £3.1bn to go green over the past year.

A survey of UK’s SMEs by think tank, the
Tenon
Forum, has found such costs are dampening businesses’ appetite for going
green and show 42% have failed to implement any environmental measures to date
while 19% have no plans to do so in the future.

Tenon Forum research suggests cynicism is rife following last month’s ‘green
budget’ as more than half, at 60%, of owner-managers believed efforts to drive
green business behaviour were motivated by the desire to win votes, rather than
genuine concern for the environment.

Andrew Jupp, Tenon’s national head of tax, said it was clear UK entrepreneurs
felt strongly about green issues. ‘Many small businesses are keen to exercise
their green credentials and to reduce their carbon footprint but this government
is simply making it too difficult and too expensive for them,’ he said.