Our thinking

The results are in

20 September, 2024

Last week, the findings from the UK’s first large scale survey of British businesses’ climate performance were published. Conducted with over 2,000 participating companies, the UK Net Zero Business Census was an opportunity to understand where more support is needed by businesses. We encouraged our UK clients past and present to take part in the survey and we’ve been looking forward to hearing the results.

The good: businesses understand the importance of climate action – 73% indicated that net zero is a priority in the next 12 months while 46% are already receiving requests from customers for climate performance data.

The bad: businesses are struggling with significant barriers towards progress – the biggest being costs and regulatory uncertainty, cited by 59% and 50% of businesses respectively.

The concerning: many companies, particularly SMEs, report ambitious but unrealistic net zero targets as early as 2030, suggesting a lack of clarity on what it takes to achieve such goals.

Altogether, the census paints a picture of high engagement but varied progress and signals the need for more targeted support for SMEs. Large organisations and industry associations have an important role to play sharing resources and support to ensure a cohesive and unified movement. Equally critical are regulators, who must create clear and consistent policies to allow businesses to take definite actions.

The more we know about the barriers UK businesses face to reaching net zero, the better positioned we are to tackle them. Over the next year, we’ll be working with our clients to do just that, and we’ll look forward to seeing how our efforts – and those of other UK businesses – stack up in the 2025 census results.

By Louise Podmore