SMEs in front line to protect environment and combat climate change

Small and medium sized businesses have an important role to play in halting climate change, says Green MSP Mark Ballard

[ClickPress, Fri Mar 02 2007] Small and medium sized businesses have an important role to play in halting climate change, says Green MSP Mark Ballard.

Addressing a meeting of Thrive for Business, Scotland’s fastest growing networking organisation for small and medium sized companies, Mr Ballard said too much emphasis was put on the needs and requirements of multi-national companies and called on government to make small businesses more of a priority.

“Small businesses are a vital sector because they have a rooting in their community and surroundings that huge multi-nationals cannot hope to have,” he said in a speech to members of Thrive AM Diadem, an Edinburgh breakfast club for executives.

Thrive for Business now has a total of nine clubs covering the central belt of Scotland and as part of its commitment to championing the needs of small and medium sized companies the main political parties have been invited to meet members and set out their plans for better business in the run up to the May elections.

“Thrive represents more than 300 small to medium sized companies in central Scotland,” said Amanda Kremer, Managing Director of Thrive for Business. “We think it is very important to provide a forum for our members to engage with politicians on business issues. Interaction between the business community and the political world is weak and sporadic, especially with SME’s

“So far only Mark Ballard of the Greens has been willing to present their case although Jim Mather of the SNP is due to address members on Tuesday 20 March.

“A lot of businesses want to know what the parties have in mind for the economy and related issues such as transport and the environment which could have a serious effect on jobs. “

Mr. Ballard told Thrive executives that the latest scientific research left no doubt that carbon dioxide emissions in Scotland will have to be reduced by 90 per cent by 2050.

”There are two ways to do that,” said the Green Party’s spokesman on Finance, Public Services and Transport. “We can try and get an 89 per cent reduction in 2049 or we can have a sensible programme of 2-3 percent annual reductions. Putting our heads in the sand until 2049 and trying to do it all at once is going to have massive negative effect on the economy.

“To achieve a sustainable, low-carbon economy we need businesses to play a central role. We need government leadership and regulatory systems that are flexible and supportive to encourage small and medium sized business rather than penalise it.

“Big businesses and multi-nationals work in a different way to small businesses and tailoring regulations to deal with multi-nationals will often have a disastrous effect on the SME sector. We have to come up with regulations that are appropriate. “

Mr Ballard attacked the Scottish Executive’s current procurement policy which he said was deigned to bring together many different small contracts into one big package which can be put out to tender in the name of efficiency.

“The contracts become packages that only the biggest multi-nationals can actually take on - that is not a sensible way to have efficient government procurement,” he said.

“Some 50 per cent of Scotland’s GDP is government spending and a lot of that is procurement contracts. If the system is designed in a way that Scottish companies cannot compete that is a massive export of government spending going to companies based out with Scotland.

“It makes no sense economically or environmentally. It is much better having a local guy come into fix your computers rather than flying somebody up from London or in from elsewhere.”

The MSP for Lothian’s said that while transport is the big issue in terms of climate change there was a lot that small businesses could do to help.

”Supporting home working, encouraging people to take one day a week to actually work from home on their laptops would result in 20 per cent reduction in transport congestion,” he said.

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