BT launches SMB carbon footprinting tool

BT has today launched a free online tool designed to help small businesses measure their carbon footprint and cut their energy use.

Called the BT Business Environmental Self-assessment Tool (BEST), the online service is aimed at firms with up to 250 staff and allows them to calculate their carbon footprint by in-putting data on their corporate travel, IT use and buildings.

The site, which has been developed in conjunction with environmental charity Global Action Plan, also offers best practice advice and guidance on how firms can cut carbon emissions and energy bills.

"BT BEST offers small businesses free access to some of the expertise BT has developed advising our larger corporate customers – for free," said Bill Murphy, managing director, BT Business. "It levels the playing field for smaller businesses that may not be aware of how sustainable business practices in many cases carry financial benefits too."

The service has been launched in the wake of new research from BT suggesting that while small businesses are increasingly keen to embrace more environmentally sustainable business models, they are often unclear on how best to do so.

The survey found that while almost half of small firms had undertaken some attempts to cut their energy use, just one in six had adopted simple environmental measures, such as encouraging staff to travel less.

Speaking at a roundtable event to mark the launch of the new service earlier today, BT's chief sustsainability officer Dr Chris Tuppen said that there was a strong case for helping small businesses curb their carbon emissions.

"Small businesses employ almost 60 per cent of the workforce in the UK," he said. "Sustsainability isn't just a government and big business agenda – it really is right across the economy."

Trewin Restorick, chief executive of Global Action Plan, added that the agile nature of small businesses meant that where they did embrace sustainable best practices they could deliver big cuts in energy bills and carbon emissions relatively quickly.

However, Andy Berrow of government-backed business support body Business Link, warned that the cashflow issues that dog many small businesses mean that they will only invest in sustainability programmes where they can see a clear bottom line gain.

Experts agreed that efforts to get smaller firms to embrace green best practices had also been hampered by the scaling back of some government advisory services in the wake of budget cuts at Defra earlier this year.

"Small businesses don't have time to send people on courses, they want someone to come in and show them what they need to do," said Restorick. " But it is many of those types of programmes that have been hit by government budget cuts."