The battle SMEs face in reducing their emissions - and proving it

By Tom Lowe2023-08-14T06:00:00

What is holding back small firms that want to reduce their carbon emissions? Tom Lowe reports for the Building the Future Commission.

Keeping a contractor’s profit margins in the black can be a careful balancing act at the best of times. Juggling the pressures of a sustained period of material inflation and economic uncertainty while walking this tightrope is a step up in difficulty. Now try doing this while transforming your builder into a net zero business.

It is no wonder that so many SMEs are making slow progress in lowering their carbon emissions when there has been so much else to manage in recent years. Barely a third of small construction firms have a plan to reduce their impact on the environment, according to a 2021 report by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). Only 15% have made any changes to their business, the lowest percentage of the UK’s seven largest sectors.

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