Climate change is an internationally recognised problem and has now become a top 5 item on the UK political agenda with a directive from the Government since 2000 for the UK and particularly UK businesses to move towards a ‘low carbon economy’.
This directive has been reinforced recently by the 1997 Kyoto accord which came into effect in February 2005 and commits the UK to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 12.5% by 2010. In addition the UK also has a domestic target of a 20% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions below 1990 levels by 2010 and the Government’s 2003 Energy White Paper accepts the need for deeper cuts of 60% by 2050 (1).
Transport is the third largest source of carbon dioxide emissions in the UK (road transport accounts for about 25% of all UK CO2 emissions) and with emissions still rising, it has been suggested that transport, will potentially have to play an important role in the UK achieving the targets (2).
The Government see business as the key delivery mechanism of their environmental programme and have demonstrated that the economy can still grow whilst reducing emissions with the UK economy growing by 36% while greenhouse gas emissions fell by about 15% (3,4).
Also, there is a growing awareness of the need for Carbon Management and becoming ‘carbon neutral’ in business which is demonstrated by the Carbon Disclosure Project Survey of FTSE 500 companies which found that “over 90% of responding companies flagged climate change as posing commercial risk and/or opportunities to their business” (5).
So with government, supply chain and investor/consumer pressure increasing, it is essential that UK businesses start being proactive and implement climate change initiatives. Businesses can do this by analysing their carbon ‘footprint’, reducing carbon emissions and offsetting carbon dioxide output which will in turn also reduce company costs and improve the bottom line.
By not doing so, businesses risk increased overheads for environmental taxes and legislative compliance costs, increased energy prices and investor/consumer pressure, as stakeholders choose to invest and buy from environmentally conscious companies.