A third of businesses have not set plans to meet carbon neutral target
A new poll of 502 businesses suggests that many are failing to prepare for the UK’s legally binding target of becoming net zero by 2050.
The survey, conducted by YouGov, shows that just under half (46%) of businesses in the UK have made plans to go carbon neutral by 2050 – with one in eight (14%) of businesses set to achieve this within the next year. One in ten (8%) business people say their company is already carbon neutral.
However, despite the new rules, a third (31%) of businesses say they have no plans to be net carbon neutral at all.
Contrasted with this lack of action, the vast majority of business people (92%) say they believe the climate is changing and that humans are at least somewhat responsible, with just 2% responding they do not believe the climate was changing at all.
In June as one of her final acts as Prime Minister, Theresa May announced that the UK would be the first G7 country to legislate for net zero emissions. Other major economies have since followed suit, and Scotland has gone one further by setting a legally binding target of 2045 – five years earlier than the UK as a whole.
The Committee on Climate Change has made a number of policy recommendations to achieve this goal, many of which will affect business, including bringing forward the ban on petrol and diesel cars, and setting more ambitious energy efficiency compliance standards for buildings.