Business backs green regulation

Political parties are misreading the wishes of industry when they pledge to reduce environmental regulation, according to a new survey from an environmental consultancy and a green pressure group. Less than a third of the companies believed that environmental regulations were too onerous; moreover, two-thirds believe that existing regulations are not enforced strictly enough.

The survey, commissioned by environmental consultancy Entec and the Green Alliance, a lobbying group, quizzed 300 companies chosen from the UK's 1000 largest businesses. They found that almost all the firms said they took measures beyond mere compliance with existing regulations. Companies seem more concerned that lax enforcement means that `cowboys' can flout the regulations and undercut their law-abiding competitors, notes Entec director Andrew Shortis.

The survey contains an `apparent contradiction,' Shortis says. Although 58 per cent of respondents said that the cost of implementation was the main factor stopping them implementing environmental programmes, 47 per cent said that investing in such programmes had improved their profitability. `Companies may be reluctant to start programmes or spend more because they find it difficult to quantify how much they'll save,' Shorter suggested.

According to the survey, industry now seems to support the use of `financial instruments' to help the environment. Some 60 per cent said that cutting VAT on energy-efficient materials would be beneficial, while 42 per cent supported variable charges for discharging pollutants into water. Opinions on an energy tax were evenly matched, with 39 per cent saying it would improve matters and 39 per cent saying it wouldn't. Other options supported by a majority of respondents included compulsory environmental reporting and environmental liability insurance, and allowing full public access to information about levels of pollutants produced by individual companies, along the lines of the US toxic release inventory.