Cost remains chief factor in going green

Published on Tuesday 5 August 2008 22:07

ENVIRONMENTALLY conscious consumers are not yet ready to pay more for "green" products and services, Scottish business leaders warned yesterday.

And most people will not sacrifice cost for the sake of buying goods which are environmentally friendly, a debate on "green" business practices was told.

Brendan Dick, the director of BT Scotland, told an audience at the debate in Edinburgh, that the country was "a long way from every customer caring about the environment".

Dick added: "When people go to buy white goods then the environment still is not top of their agenda. That has to be about education – we have a long way to go there as well."

Glen Bennett, the managing director of EAE Distribution, sounded a similar warning.

Bennett, who set-up EAE in 1987 to distribute leaflets around Scotland, added: "Clients expect cheaper and cheaper prices.

"Customers are still not asking about distributors' 'green' credentials. They all talk about it but when it comes to signing a 'greener' contract that's 15 per cent more expensive, they will always go for the cheaper deal."

Duncan McLaren, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland and chairman of the event, said: "I agree that the majority of the public are not ready to pay the price yet but a significant niche are and that why these 'greener' companies exist.

"For them to lower their prices at the moment would be tantamount to business suicide.

"Instead, they should lobby government for tighter environmental controls, which would level the playing field with their less 'green' competitors."

The panel also said that businesses could not be expected to tackle climate change on its own.

"We often look at environmental impact and ask what businesses are doing," said Dick.

"But what we really mean is 'what are organisations doing?'.

"Consumers, small businesses, large companies and government and public bodies are all using energy and, in Scotland, we should have a collective approach to tackling our environmental impact."

McLaren challenged Dick and Bennett to spread the word to other businesses about lowering their carbon footprints and saving money at the same time.

But Bennett highlighted some of the problems facing businesses that try to "go green".

When EAE moved to Loanhead, in Midlothian, four years ago, he wanted to erect a wind turbine but it took two-and-half years to get planning permission and install the device.

"Erecting the wind turbine was going against good business sense in many ways because of all the red tape," Bennett explained but added the turbine was now generating between 60 and 80 per cent of the electrical power for his offices.

He added that it would take about 25 years to recoup the cost of installing the turbine.

Dick highlighted the scale of the challenge facing larger companies, such as BT.

He said that, while BT has cut its carbon footprint by 60 per cent when compared with its 1996 levels, it still accounted for 0.7 per cent of the UK's electricity consumption.