BSI Survey of FTSE 250 Examines British Business Approach to Environmental Responsibilities

October 27, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS

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BSI British Standards surveyed 100 of the FTSE 250 on their attitudes to environmental management. Results indicated the following:

• Ninety-five percent of those surveyed, compared with 84% in 2006, believed that their company's environmental performance had improved over the last 10 years.
• Thirty-five percent of companies surveyed identified rising energy costs as the single biggest environmental concern for their business, while one-quarter were most interested in reducing their carbon emissions.

"Most people now accept that everyone must take action on the environment, and it's clear that there is recognition of the business and social benefits of going green in the boardroom," Mike Low, director of BSI British Standards, said.

"I hope that businesses of any size or sector will also see the relevance of an environmental system for their operations. The challenge is to use specific standards to measure the impact and reduce costs," Low said.

As well as environmental management systems such as ISO 14001, which are designed to help monitor and improve environmental performance, BSI said it continues to develop a range of sustainability and environmental products:

• BSI will soon launch publicly available specification (PAS) 2050 - Specification for the assessment of the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of goods and services.
• BSI PAS 2020 - A standard for reducing the environmental impact of direct marketing is due to be published later this year.
• British Standard (BS) 8901 - Specification for a sustainable event management system with guidance for use was published in November 2007.

Source: BSI Group.