Making Sense of Going Green – Small Businesses and the Low Carbon Economy

Date of the report

2010

Author of the report

Francis Wood and David Caro, Federation of Small Business.

Purpose of the report

Whilst the twin threats of climate change and increasing energy prices bring challenges for our economy they also bring opportunities that can allow our 4.8 million small businesses to contribute to a greener economy, enjoy lower energy costs and benefit from new opportunities in a low carbon economy.

The FSB is advocating a mixture of short, medium and long term measures to green our small business sector, that are set out in the report, detailing how the transition can be made in a feasible and profitable way.

Relevance to the region

The West Midlands Economic Strategy sets out the importance of the transition to a future proof economy, which includes the expansion of small businesses through the manufacture of low carbon products and the potential of Birmingham Energy Savers to use feed in tariffs to support such businesses.

The financial suggestions and model for ‘Building a green small business sector’ therefore have implications for how something like this could be achieved in the region.

What SWM liked

We liked the clear cut structure of the report and the positive conclusions that, if the right policies were put in place, small businesses can successfully become green and contribute to a sustainable low carbon economy.