Small- and medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs, account for around 45% of UK business energy use but a lack of time, money and resources has prevented many from taking any carbon reduction actions.
According to the UK’s Carbon Trust, the sector has a much greater potential to save energy than larger organisations. And with energy costs forecast to rise by 26% by 2020, it says there has never been a better time to make energy efficiency a priority.
The Trust launched a free online advice service for at small and growing businesses spending less than £50,000 a year on energy costs earlier this year and is now introducing an online application process for its Carbon Trust Standard.
The service aims to help organisations quantify their carbon footprint and reduce it – and get recognition for doing so in the process.
While the Carbon Trust Standard has been achieved by 400+ companies, it has not gained much ground among SME, of which only 17 have received the standard.
“The new online service is convenient and relatively low cost to deliver making it more affordable and easier for SMEs to tackle their carbon management performance,” says Harry Morrison of the Carbon Trust Standard Company.
In pilot trials of the tool, SMEs from a range of industry sectors managed to cut their carbon footprint by an average of over 7%, saving nearly 5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
Overall, the potential savings for SMEs could top £1.1 billion, says the Carbon Trust, and the support is being welcomed by the sector.
“Small businesses have a huge role to play in the UK’s drive towards a low carbon economy,” says David Caro of the Federation of Small Businesses. “In order to do this they need the sort of specialist help which is now available via this online assessment and certification process.”