Energy Secretary calls on businesses to promote greener thinking

Ed Miliband: employers should encourage green practices

Overworked Brits aren't finding time to help the environment at home and a lack of company environmental schemes is leaving them feeling they have no way to help tackle climate change, according to a wide ranging survey from the Energy Saving Trust.

Half of UK workers said they would be greener if only they had more time, while nearly a third said their job is the main reason that they do not have time to be green.

And 44 per cent of employees said they would be more motivated if their employer offered some kind of a benefit to encourage them to live a greener lifestyle.

Marking the beginning of Energy Saving Week, energy and climate-change secretary Ed Miliband called on UK plc to push more environmental schemes in the workplace.

"I urge all employers – big and small – to see Energy Saving Week as an opportunity to talk to their workers and support them so we can reduce energy use and develop greener living and working environments," Miliband said. "This should encourage employees to work in a greener way – and even adapt their lifestyles away from work to reduce carbon emissions."

The government hopes such schemes will create an environmental mindset among workers and lead them to replicate at home energy saving measures introduced in the workplace.

This is increasingly important as the economy nosedives, said Philip Sellwood, chief executive of the Energy Saving Trust.

"By helping equip them to live a greener lifestyle, not only can employees feel a greater sense of motivation but they can help to beat the credit crunch at the same time. By being more energy-efficient in the home, the average householder could save £340 a year," Sellwood said.

According to the trust's study, more than a quarter (27 per cent) of respondents said they would like to see their employers offer "green benefits" to employees such as loans for energy-efficient products or free visits from an energy doctor. The survey polled 2,000 adults in the UK.