Businesses aren’t decarbonising fast enough. But it’s not necessarily their fault. Here we’re providing an opportunity to create demand for better support and impact, with just your signature required.
Employers want to meet targets towards their net zero pledges. Employees want to work for companies that show leadership on impact-related issues. So, what’s the missing link in making the net zero workplace a reality?
The BIMA Sustainability Council is urging the UK government to implement green tax breaks. Because only in a world where good will, business protocol and government policy align can we really move together towards a more sustainable future.
Government-led incentives would help to mobilise the collective power of our employees and make sustainable business standards more accessible across all organisations and sectors. After reading our proposed initiatives, go ahead and co-sign the letter to add momentum and help encourage the government to work more sincerely on the side of employers and the planet.
From transitioning to carbon neutral pension schemes, to promoting the uptake of electric cars and other greener commute options, there are many ways for employers to rally the workforce and decarbonise businesses from the inside-out. But implementing and incentivising these schemes can be costly and out of reach for a lot of businesses on their own. So, those that are struggling to balance their priorities are being left behind in what should never have been a competitive commercial race in the first place.
Yes, Mark Carney did recognise sustainability as ‘the greatest commercial opportunity of our time.’ Yes, businesses that don’t address sustainability both sincerely and publicly will lose out to competition. And, yes, companies should be innovating at speed to find accessible solutions to help accelerate the adoption of more sustainable behaviours. But when our incentives for sustainability stop at personal profit, that’s when evasive greenwashing and offsetting initiatives creep up to distract us from genuine action towards our crucial net-zero targets. And in this case, nobody wins.
Green tax breaks and clear accreditations can make ethical choices the most practical ones for employers, helping to fold decarbonisation into the day-to-day; it’s what we need to bridge resources between commercial priorities and the necessity to decarbonise. When they’re easy to find, easy to understand and easy to claim, government incentives will work to level the playing field, getting us closer to an ecosystem where decarbonisation is embedded into cultural reality.
Our open letter outlines a number of specific supporting measures that the UK government could put in place, all curated from a series of workshops we’ve been carrying out with business leaders and sustainability experts. Add your name to support us in taking these conversations further.