Businesses benefit from achieving possible environmental legislation goals

Businesses have been shown that they can benefit from achieving goals that could be set by environmental legislation.

According to research from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, British firms who voluntarily submit their greenhouse gas emission levels can take advantage of cost savings and improve their green credentials.

It also helps companies engender better relationships with their investors, clients and customers by showing that they are taking an interest in green practices.

Environment minister Lord Henley said that this scheme is helping in "encouraging attempts to reduce emissions" for businesses in the UK.

The findings of the report will help the government to decide whether to make greenhouse gas reporting obligatory through changes to environmental legislation.

Chief scientific advisor Bob Watson added: "The emission figures seem to act as a catalyst for other changes within the company resulting in wide ranging benefits for both the environment and the business."

Last month, product manager at NEC Chris Parker suggested that companies would be more inclined to adopt green policies if they had financial incentives to do so, saying that firms are, for the majority of the time, motivated by costs.

Posted by Joseph Hutton