Businesses are changing the way they work as a result of climate change, but want the government to do more to encourage environmetally friendly behaviour, research has found.
PricewaterhouseCoopers has released findings showing that 97% of the companies surveyed expect to make more changes in the way they do business in the next two to three years.
Almost all respondents (98%) said it is important to take measures to reduce the environmental impact of industry, and over two thirds said that environmental issues are already affecting corporate behaviour.
However, 49% of businesses surveyed do not believe that current policy actually encourages significant changes in behaviour.
According to Glyn Barker, managing partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers:
“We believe that there is an urgent requirement for a much clearer policy framework to help business respond to the challenge of climate change.
“While it may be surprising to find businesses appearing to welcome further regulation, corporate leaders recognise that customer and investor pressure is not enough to change their environmental behaviour fast enough given the urgency and scale of action required.”
The survey found that 51% of businesses are not confident in making long-term investment decisions in the context of the current environmental tax and regulatory framework; and that businesses would like greater transparency around how government uses environmental tax revenues to fund environmental initiatives.
John Manning, head of environmental tax and regulation, PricewaterhouseCoopers, added:
“The appetite for dealing with the environmental consequences of doing business has never been greater...Business needs a clear and meaningful framework if it is to take the important action needed to combat global warming.”
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2007
