Government 'should encourage businesses to be green'

The government could make reforms to its environmental legislation after it was suggested that it could do more to encourage businesses to be green.

Alex Randall, spokesman for the Centre for Alternative Technology, said the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition should be focusing on training companies to be more sustainable in order to achieve goals of becoming a zero-carbon nation.

He noted that in order to do this the country needs to become less dependent on "scarce sources".

However, Mr Randall suggested that this "requires training many thousands of people in the new skills that the country will need to make this transition".

This follows a report from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs suggesting that resources such as timber and those needed to build high technology products are under threat.

It emphasised the urgency for businesses to conserve these materials and use alternatives to help fight against climate change.

However, Mr Randall added that the biggest issue preventing the UK moving towards becoming a low-carbon society was not its lack of resources but the fact that "we simply haven't got enough people with the skills" to encourage renewable energy uptake.

Posted by Lauren Steadman