UK businesses fear 'uncompetitive' effects of carbon-cutting

A significant number of UK businesses fear that new government targets to reduce carbon emissions from companies will make them uncompetitive.

That's the message from a new survey undertaken by npower which discovered that 71 per cent of intensive energy users believed that the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC), aimed at large businesses, would make it hard for them to compete with foreign rivals.

However, the survey also revealed a willingness among businesses to institute environmentally-aware policies, with more than half of those questioned admitting they would value help in both reducing carbon emissions and increasing energy efficiency.

"Businesses have faced a raft of new legislation in recent years, with more now promised in the form of the CRC, so it is understandable that they may feel the responsibility to reduce CO2 is being placed at their door," said npower business managing director, Paul Coffey.

"While the need to actively reduce CO2 has become a business requirement in the last few years, it will increasingly become a priority as low carbon outputs become evermore linked with strong financial performance," he added.

Last week a number of major UK firms, including British Sugar and Morphy Richards, signed up to a new government-backed initiative that aims to develop a universal standard to judge the carbon footprint of goods and services throughout their lifetime. ADNFCR-1231-ID-18466482-ADNFCR