‘Green Audits’ may be helpful for firms

Environmentalism has moved on such a long way in just a couple of years, with the current focus of debate very firmly fixed on practical, rational and achievable objectives. The concept of ‘sustainability’ is something that most A2 students will have considered, as firms anxiously assemble their strategies, because, in the words of Unilever’s boss “retailers and consumers demand it and it saves us money”.

There’s a very interesting BBC piece about how firms can benefit from doing an environmental or ‘green audit’ – with research suggesting that the process can help them cut costs.

According to the BBC, research commissioned by the government has found that UK companies that measure their carbon emissions do not find the exercise arduous or expensive - and some say it brings benefits. Although a significant minority of firms didn’t agree, the CBI welcomed the finding, affirming that it “strongly supports” emissions reporting because it helps cut carbon.

The most crucial report finding was that the auditing process forces a company to measure emissions, and that provided the incentive to reduce them through routes that include spending less on energy. “Reporting drives the action of measuring, helping companies to identify opportunities for emission reductions. It also helps companies set meaningful and achievable reduction targets ... and increased awareness of new market opportunities.” This provides more evidence to back claims that this whole agenda provides scope for both cutting costs and boosting revenues.

But not everyone will agree, and green audits do not come cheap. Firms have to approach them with the same cost vrs benefit evaluation that they would apply to any decision. So perhaps it’s right that the government is being careful about deciding when to make the practice mandatory, as many pressure groups will now argue.