Going Green: Much Talk but Less Action by Firms, says Genesys Conferencing Survey

Increasing customer pressures for companies to show environmental commitment.

One in five has green ‘champion’.

conferencing solutions deliver cost savings and reduced carbon emissions.

Croydon, UK: UK companies are failing to match fine words with positive action in implementing green policies throughout the business, with fewer than one third of respondents believing that they are moving strongly or very strongly to adopting ‘green’ policies in their organisations. So finds a survey of UK enterprise businesses undertaken by Vanson Bourne on behalf of leading unified collaboration and communications services provider, Genesys Conferencing.

“Visitors to any company’s website today are almost certain to find a stated commitment to the environment,” says Jerona Noonan, sales director, Genesys Conferencing. “Yet, as this survey shows, to-date in most businesses this has not been put into practice in the form of positive environmental initiatives.

“More positively, however, the signs are that things are about to change,” she believes, “as one in five has already appointed a ‘green Czar’ to drive environmental initiatives within the business.”

Key findings

• When asked how strong the move to adopt ‘green’ policies is within their organisation, 33% of respondents said weak or very weak, with only 31% believing it to be strong or very strong;

• 45% of respondents believe the chief executive (CEO) drives green initiatives within their business. “This does not necessarily mean that environmental issues are being fully taken on board at the highest level within the business,” believes Noonan. “Rather, it is the default position of those respondents who are unaware of who precisely is responsible at senior level for cutting the corporate carbon footprint.”

• More encouragingly however, 20% have in place a dedicated head of sustainability or ‘green Czar’, with a further 20% confirming that functional heads such as the chief technical officer (CTO), chief operating officer (COO) or their equivalents have responsibility for spearheading environmental change throughout the organisation;

• The most important drivers for change remain cost efficiency (cited by 24% of respondents) and regulatory compliance (by 23%);

• However, almost as important today is the growing pressure from customers, recognised as the principal pressure to go green by 19% of those surveyed. Shareholder pressure, by contrast, is seen as most important by only 7%;

• Despite the financial imperatives for environmental change, only 37% of businesses in total believe that costs will reduce as a result of the adoption of ‘green’ policies, with 25% still holding to the view that costs will increase.

Achieving win/win

“On the face of it there is a contradiction here, in that companies are under most cost pressure to reduce their carbon footprint, yet have little confidence that such savings can be achieved,” Noonan points out. “Yet this is perhaps not so surprising at a time when the creation and implementation of corporate environmental policies are still in their infancy.

“However, the good news is that in the key area of corporate travel budgets, modern multimedia conferencing solutions can both significantly cut costs and reduce carbon emissions, delivering a valuable win/win outcome,” she confirms. “And, critically, savings can be accurately measured through the use of Genesys Conferencing’s own carbon calculator, for example, so encouraging full deployment and use of such tools enterprise-wide.”