What is holding back small firms that want to reduce their carbon emissions? Tom Lowe reports for the Building the Future Commission.
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Building writes:
Keeping a contractor’s profit margins in the black can be a careful balancing act…. Juggling the pressures of a sustained period of material inflation and economic uncertainty while walking this tightrope is a step up in difficulty. Now try doing this while transforming your builder into a net zero business.
… many SMEs are making slow progress in lowering their carbon emissions when there has been so much else to manage in recent years. Barely a third of small construction firms have a plan to reduce their impact on the environment, according to a 2021 report by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). Only 15% have made any changes to their business, the lowest percentage of the UK’s seven largest sectors.
