Feature
Why Must Businesses Take Environmental Matters Into Their Own Hands?
With net zero deadlines looming closer, more emphasis is being put on businesses to pull their weight when it comes to cutting their carbon footprint. But why should they act, and what can be done?
The UK’s commitment to the Paris Agreement means that we have to play our part in limiting the global temperature rise. But to do this, emissions must be halved by 2030 with net zero being achieved no later than 2050.
Claire Price of QMS International, one of the UK’s leading ISO certification bodies, explores this question in more depth. Current Attitudes Towards Sustainability
Despite the growing urgency of reaching net zero by 2050, many organisations have yet to accept the reality of the threat. QMS International’s latest research1
of business attitudes towards
But this goal is beginning to slip out of our fingers, with the UK set to miss its fourth and fifth carbon budgets. To achieve the sixth, the country will need to cut emissions by a staggering 78%. Action from the business world is key to this, especially in high- emission sectors.
These sectors include construction which, according to the UK Green Building Council, accounts for 10% of the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions. The manufacturing sector, whose greenhouse emissions stood at 60 MtCO2
e (metric tonnes of carbon
dioxide equivalent) in 2018, is also key to meeting targets, as is transport and logistics, which is responsible for 27% of total greenhouse emissions.
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sustainability found that environmental sustainability was only listed as a top or second priority by 1.9% and 11.2% of businesses respectively. The majority (23.4%) put it as the seventh business priority – out of eight.
This suggests that it is now time for businesses to reprioritise and take environmental matters into their own hands.
The Benefit Of Acting Now
By being proactive now, organisations can dodge future headaches, especially where legislation or seeking new business is concerned.
For instance, in July 2021 the government announced its Transport Decarbonisation Plan, which included a pledge to phase out the
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