SME workers: pay us to go green

The seven dwarves must have a fairly large carbon footprint. For a start, they work in mining, which isn’t exactly well known for environmental credentials and they’re also a decidedly small business.

Apparently, insurer AXA reckons small businesses are absolutely chucking out carbon – some 110 tonnes every year it reckons.

And they’re not daft about their climate consequences either – 55 percent of SMEs told AXA they’re contributing to global warming.

So what are they doing about it? Not overly much, you might be forgiven for thinking.

Six percent have green energy suppliers, 36 percent recycle, 25 percent use “environmentally friendly” products and a similar percentage have been prodding staff to cut energy use.

Apparently, that’s working about as well a solar powered torch, or a Kentish Job Centre employee.

Another SME survey, this time sponsored by E.ON (PR surveys are like crack to Greenbang at the moment), says two fifths of staff aren’t toeing the company line and following green policies.

A rather sweet little nugget from that self-same survey said that 58 percent of employees could be encouraged to make green changes to their office lifestyle with ‘financial incentives’.

Isn’t that called paying them?