A survey* of over a thousand London small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) has revealed they are taking environmental sustainability to the heart of their enterprises, with 54% of the businesses surveyed already measuring their carbon footprint, and 53% having reduction plans in place. More than half of London businesses surveyed (54%) also reported having dedicated leadership roles for sustainability, highlighting the growing recognition of its importance within the business community.
Commissioned by West London Business and conducted by Survation, respondents were business decision makers or holders of key leadership positions, selected to provide a robust representation of the views of SMEs across London.
A sample of 1050 business leaders in London took part in the London Business Leaders Environmental Sustainability Survey, which also identified several reasons why some London businesses hadn’t adopted environmental sustainability practices. These were namely financial constraints (31%) and lack of understanding or expertise (24%), while the barriers to accessing free support are primarily lack of awareness about available resources (29%) and a lack of time (25%). Nearly 20% of businesses pointed out difficulty in finding suitable environmental sustainability partners or vendors. This may reflect widely-reported sustainability practitioner skills shortages, and problems finding suppliers that are on the same sustainability journey.
While the survey results are mainly a positive reflection of the London business community, Andrew Dakers, Chief Executive of West London Business, explains why even more London businesses are ideally placed to access free environmental sustainability support: “Many of those London businesses surveyed with carbon reduction plans in place have been accessing freely available support from local authorities (55%), City Hall, via Better Futures (48%), or via ReLondon (43%), demonstrating strong take-up of taxpayer-funded initiatives. We want to see even more businesses across the capital access these free, high quality resources to reduce their energy costs, increase their business resilience and help mitigate climate change. The Better Futures team are on hand to help London businesses navigate their net-zero journey. For the sake of a quick email or phone call, businesses can access the help they need, and fast.”
Daniela Menzky, Co-founder of Climate Essentials – the carbon footprint platform – added: “At Climate Essentials, we pride ourselves on helping businesses develop their net-zero strategies. Over the past few months, we have seen a steep increase in demand for easy-to-use, accurate, and educational platforms that not only allow organisations to measure their carbon emissions, but most importantly, create a reduction strategy and educate users along the way. Our platform does precisely that. Climate Essentials dismantles the barriers that might hinder organisations from playing a pivotal role in the battle against climate change. It’s impressive and reassuring to hear the results from the London Business Leaders Survey, stating that Climate Essentials is the tool of choice that most organisations select to create a carbon reduction pathway.”
