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News & Views From the Front Line
Monday, 24 August 2009
Netregs 2009 Small Business Survey
Here are the key points from this annual survey of the UK's small & medium size businesses and their attitudes to the environment.- Only 7% of SMEs thought their business undertakes activities which harm the environment. When prompted, 46% were found to undertake an environmentally harmful activity. The most common activities were storing waste (42%), storing chemicals, fuels or oil (38%) and producing, importing, selling or using packaging (29%).
- 38% of SMEs had not heard of relevant environmental regulations, even when prompted by a list.
- 55% of SMEs had introduced practical measures to prevent or reduce environmental harm – up from 48% in 2007.
- Just 6% had a person responsible for environmental issues although 28% had made energy efficiency or water reduction improvements.
- 4% had an Environment Management System in place (15% in 2007) and 23% an environmental policy (39% in 2007). Just 12% thought this would be useful to their business.
- 80% were ‘very’ or ‘quite unlikely’ to invest money in improving their environmental performance over the next 12 months.
- 24% had reduced operating costs, 20% reduced risk of prosecution/fines, 20% motivated the workforce, 18% improved customer relationships and 8% increased sales/profitability through improved environmental performance.
But the weird thing is the last two - some of those who had reduced operating costs weren't prepared to make any further investment, even though it is likely they would save even more cash. As we all know, businesses who have good green performance are doing better in this recession.
Labels: green business, NetRegs, survey
# posted by Gareth Kane : 06:10
0 Comments
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
Co-op, Body Shop and M&S Top Ethical Poll
In yet another survey of green/ethical brands, this time of 3000 UK adults by GfK NOP, the Co-op, Body Shop and M&S held onto the top three spots, but Sainsbury's lost out to Tesco at the foot of the table.Rank 2008 Rank 2007
1 Co-op 1 Co-op
2 Body Shop 2 Body Shop
3 M&S 3 M&S
4 Green & Blacks 4 Traidcraft
5 Ecover 5 Cafédirect
6 Traidcraft 6 Ecover
7 Cafédirect 7= Green & Blacks & Tesco
8 Innocent
9 Divine 9 Oxfam
10 Tesco 10 Sainsbury’s
The surprises for me are:
1. The Body Shop's brand has survived the loss of founder Anita Roddick, who, even though she had sold the organisation to l'Oreal, was still associated with it in the press.
2. The position of Tesco on the table given the recent controversies over landbanking, competition and treatment of suppliers by the Big Four supermarkets. I wonder how much their position relates to their huge market share of the retail sector - does anyone want to admit they shop at an unethical store?
Labels: corporate social responsibility, ethical brands, green marketing, survey
# posted by Gareth Kane : 05:09
1 Comments
Friday, 19 October 2007
Green Washers and Green Winners Survey
The Chatsworth FOOTSIE 100 Green Washers and Green Winners survey has found that UK big business puts image and consumer pressure ahead of genuine concern for the environment. The survey asked more than 1200 "opinion formers" from including included journalists and commentators from the UK national print and broadcast press, the environmental and business trade media, political groups and sustainability experts. The results were:- The main motivation for UK companies to adopt green policies is to protect their reputation (27%) followed by consumer pressure (20%) and good business sense (18%)
- Only 1% believe genuine concern for the environment is the key driver for UK companies to adopt green policies
- Marks & Spencer (45%) and HSBC voted the top green winners – the companies making the most genuine green effort
- BP, Tesco and British Airways considered to be most guilty of ‘greenwash’ by respondents
- BP, Tesco and Marks & Spencer have the highest profile and most effective green publicity campaigns in terms of coverage
- Majority of respondents (75%) believe it is better for big business to own up where they are not green and show willing to make any changes
BP and Tesco must be a bit gutted, spending all that money on publicity and getting branded "Greenwashers". I'm sure they'll be taking a close look at how M&S have converted their cash into credibility. The simple answer is "Walk the Walk AND Talk the Talk" - earlier this week they got voted joint greenest supermarket.
Labels: green business, green claims, survey
# posted by Gareth Kane : 08:42
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A highly accessible, practical guide to those who want to introduce sustainability into their business or organization quickly and effectively.
