Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce
The climate
change challenge and its effect on SMEs
Global warming over the next ten years is inescapable, and with it comes an enhanced risk of economic and physical dangers. T e only solution to prevent the most damaging eff ects of climate change after 2030 is to forcefully decarbonise our daily lives and economy. In this article, we’ll look at the climate change challenge, what
Justin Richardson CEO
Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce
the UK’s targets are, and its impact on businesses. We’ll also discuss how businesses can adapt and what the Chamber is doing to provide initiatives to help, developed in partnership with those who share our vision and values. As part of its sixth carbon budget, the Government declared on April 20, 2021, that it will ‘set the world’s most ambitious change target’ to decrease emissions by 78% in contrast to 1990 levels. Britain’s carbon budgets put a limit on the overall amount of greenhouse gases the UK can produce across a period of fi ve years. T e target set in this carbon budget will include Britain’s share of shipping and international aviation emissions, which were eliminated from the UK’s preceding carbon budgets. T e 2019 Climate Change Act commits the UK to net zero by
42 ALL THINGS BUSINESS
2050, increasing the UK’s duty to a 100% cutback in emissions by 2050 compared to the 2008 Act that committed the UK to an 80% reduction. The Government announced it was one of
the world’s key economies in permitting laws to decrease all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, stating: “Any emissions would be balanced by schemes to off set an equivalent amount of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, such as planting trees or using technology like carbon capture and storage.”
What does it mean for businesses? According to the Climate Change Committee, the UK is currently on target to meet its objective of a 37% cutback in emissions in comparison to 1990 by 2022. However, it’s not on target to meet the objectives highlighted in the fourth and fi fth carbon budgets – a 51% decrease in contrast to 1990 levels by 2025 and a 57% decrease versus 1990 levels by 2030. T e committee has declared the Government must ‘introduce more challenging measures’ so the UK can meet forthcoming carbon budgets and the net zero target for 2050. So, what can SMEs do to ensure they are meeting
targets? T ere seems to be a lot of legislation and businesses are being given targets, but without any real means or support to achieve these. We are seeing changes in markets, technologies and regulations that challenge the practicality of existing services or products, increase company costs or aff ect asset values. What we are not currently
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