Focus on: Reducing your carbon footprint

“Carbon cutting” is starting to affect every area of our lives. Whether it’s buying a product in a supermarket that bears a carbon reduction label or reducing our carbon footprint in other ways, most of us now appreciate the urgency of the matter.

And yet recent research shows that Britain’s small firms are being slower to respond. Despite accounting for almost 20% of total CO2 emissions, a quarter of the country’s small firms have not yet taken any steps to make their businesses greener. Aside from the environmental damage they are causing, it is clear that a lot of SMEs aren’t aware of the commercial benefits of cutting their carbon. For example, an average office-based business wastes £6,000 per year by leaving equipment on at weekends.

There is significant money to be saved in reducing energy consumption. The Carbon Trust, a private company set up by government in response to the threat of climate change, can help you realise these savings. Over the past three years it has provided around £90m of support for SMEs to fund a range of services including interest free loans, site surveys, research grants and free energy-management events.

In this, our focus on “Reducing your carbon footprint”, you’ll find a wealth of information on how you can help accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy. SMEs may be small and medium in size but they have one of the biggest roles to play in cutting carbon emissions in this country.

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Why SMEs must ramp up their efforts to cut carbon
By Melissa Hancock
In this, our extended insight, Real Business examines why the onus is on SMEs to cut their carbon emissions...
October 26, 2007 1:50pm

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27 ways...to cut your carbon emissions
By Paul Allen

October 22, 2007 6:30pm

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Carbon without the jargon
By Dan Matthews
Think reducing carbon means installing a hamster wheel in your server room? Think again. There’s a sensible, commercial case for going green.
October 22, 2007 6:09pm

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Ringwood Brewery case study
By Real Business

Ringwood Brewery case study: how a Carbon Trust loan taken out by a Hampshire brewery is cutting thousands of pounds off their energy bills...

October 17, 2007 1:22pm

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AAC Cyroma case study
By Real Business
How a Carbon Trust loan taken out by an Oxfordshire based manufacturer is helping to reduce energy bills by thousands of pounds...
October 17, 2007 12:48pm