Pictured above: Andy Youngman

Andy Youngman, area director for Lloyds TSB Commercial in Birmingham encourages Midlands businesses to go green to help boost the balance sheet

At a time when the majority of small businesses are anxious about the fragile economic recovery, 'going green' might be bottom of their lists of priorities and might not even feature on their five year plans. However, many firms may not have realised the wealth of opportunities open to them by becoming a more sustainable business.

As well as reducing overheads and operating costs, becoming more sustainable can give businesses in Birmingham a competitive edge, enable them to pitch for contracts with environmental criteria and enhance their reputation.

Increasingly, both public and private sector tender processes require firms to provide details of sustainability and ethical trading policies. This reflects a focus in the wider business community to ensure goods and services are produced in a way that benefits society and the economy with minimal damage to the environment.  

Assessing the need for new products and services in the green marketplace may also mean they can target new markets and consumers, generating new revenue streams.

As the economy begins to recover, those SMEs that do not assess their environmental policies and the opportunities available could miss out on their slice of billions of pounds of growth.

Our latest research into the subject discovered that small firms that have yet to grasp the business opportunities created by the environmental sustainability agenda are missing out on a potential £5.7 billion of economic growth across the UK in the next three years.

Whilst the majority of small firms (91 per cent) have taken some steps towards becoming more environmentally sustainable, the research indicates that those SMEs that haven't (nine per cent) could have contributed to economic growth had they taken steps to become more environmentally responsible.

Many SMEs may continue to hold back because of a wrongly held fear that there is a detrimental cost of taking action. In fact, our research showed that 60 per cent of small firms in the West Midlands said the cost of becoming more sustainable was less than £5,000.

The reality is no business can afford to ignore the environment. There are risks for any company that does not improve its credentials while on the flip side, there are huge opportunities to be gained.