Light commercial solutions
Avoiding the bystander effect in decarbonisation
Tim Rook, chief markets officer at Clade Engineering Systems, explores how companies can do their part in the push toward Net Zero and avoid quiet inaction as a result of the bystander effect
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ccording to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), SMEs account for 99.2% of total business in the UK, half the turnover in the private sector
in the UK and have three-fifths of the employment in the country. These figures stand as testament to the importance of getting things right with SMEs in terms of climate change and sustainable evolution into the use of renewable energy sources and decarbonisation processes.
Most SMEs have an active desire to tackle climate change and make positive changes within their business practice towards long-term sustainability. The problem that many face, however, relates to both cost and a lack of understanding of the support out there for them to access. Climate initiatives, business grants, and information about renewable energy sources such as commercial heat pumps or solar panel installations are available to all businesses, but many can’t afford them or aren’t aware of their access to them. Worse still, however, is the potential for SMEs to fall prey to what’s known as the bystander effect.
What is the bystander effect? In social psychology, the bystander effect is the idea that where there is an emergency situation, the greater the number of people present, the less likely it is that someone will step up and offer to help. Each will be under the impression that somebody else will take action, thus leading to a combined stance of total inaction.
When we take this idea and place it within the
context of the current global climate emergency and the inaction of SMEs and business in general to decarbonise, it does track.
The bystander effect and climate change
It is understandable as individuals that one might be daunted or overwhelmed by the concept of climate change, and perhaps even question the impact one person can really have just by making sure your recycling goes in the correct box outside your home. From a business perspective, making a genuine change to any aspect of your operations presents
18 January 2024
challenges - especially when you consider the short-term potential pain in cost and challenges in traversing the adoption of new methods by staff and customers. Change in any form costs time, resources and cold, hard cash. It is here, facing these challenges, that smaller business owners might fall victim to self-reassurances that as their contributions to decarbonisation would be “minimal” compared with those of larger businesses around them, they needn’t take action. While it’s true that, if this were a truly isolated
case of inaction, the impact on a global scale would indeed be minimal, the real problem of this bystander effect, as evidenced by its origination, is that as more and more adopt such a mindset, the overall impact of inaction multiplies in scale until it becomes an exceptional detractor from true progress. There are undoubtedly challenges to the process in
the road ahead, but decarbonisation of the commercial sector is certainly achievable, and reaching Net Zero is crucial to our long-term future planet. Let’s explore some of the ways businesses can start, continue or expand their decarbonisation efforts.
Help for small businesses It is important that small business owners do their best to bypass the bystander effect and make real choices to be proactive in decarbonisation. With this in mind, the Government has launched a sustainability hub designed to help 5.5m small businesses to decarbonise.
The UK Business Climate Hub is there to help SMEs shift their energy use to renewable sources (such as air source heat pumps) whilst saving money on their energy bills – a vital benefit at a time where such bills are on the rise. Through the hub, businesses can ask for advice on cost-effective climate initiatives, carbon credits, training in all things sustainability, how to reduce waste, how to source suppliers that are ‘green’, carbon credits, and how to acquire business grants.
Low carbon heat pumps as a commercial solution
One way in which business owners can make a positive step forward and create a more sustainable
business practice that doesn’t just pay lip service to decarbonisation is to install commercial heat pumps. Commercial air source heat pumps could be one of the best solutions for small businesses in the UK in making a difference in the overall Government target of Net Zero 2050. For this to be a realistic proposition there must be widespread take-up of renewable energy sources, such as commercial heat pumps. Heat pumps have the technology to become the
low carbon heat provider for both commercial and residential properties in the UK. Significantly reducing carbon footprints and energy bills in the same breath, their positive impact and contribution towards decarbonisation targets can’t be understated. The bystander effect might be a genuine phenomenon, but when you see the benefits so starkly, it is hard to understand why any business owner wouldn’t want to make the switch.
The business benefits to Net Zero
The impact of climate change on us all is here to see around the world. There has been a political focus on reducing carbon emissions for quite some time, and smaller businesses are an integral part of the UKs plans to meet Net Zero emissions targets by 2050. For small businesses, Net Zero means sustainable services, products that are made from sustainable materials, thorough insulation within workplaces, the promotion of public transport, sustainable distribution and shipping of products, and the use of renewable energy sources, such as commercial heat pumps.
Conclusion
There has been growing interest in Net Zero from business owners of all shapes and sizes throughout the UK, but there is the bystander effect of not wanting to be the first to make a move, when you can see that there isn’t widespread take-up of renewable energy applications. What really needs to happen is greater influence
and incentives from above, aligned with suppliers of renewable energy sources, such as commercial heat pumps and solar power, to help businesses make a significant change that goes a long way towards sustainable business practice.
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