1 in 4 businesses don’t have a plan for reducing carbon

More than 1 in 4 businesses in the UK and US still don’t have a plan for reducing carbon.

In November 2022, Mace released the findings of an independent poll (by YouGov).

The survey gathered the views of more than 1,500 senior business leaders from across the UK and the US.

It formed part of Mace’s Carbon Survey report, published for a third consecutive year.

Tackling businesses’ carbon challenge

Mace’s Carbon Survey polled over 3,000 business leaders and looked specifically at how organisations are tackling the carbon challenge within their existing property and infrastructure portfolios.

A clear majority of respondents agree addressing the climate challenge takes precedence.

In fact, a quarter (25%) reported prioritising carbon reduction over profit in a business decision in the past 12 months.

Businesses’ carbon reduction is also of high importance to job hunters, with more than half (56%) of respondents stating they consider a company’s sustainability efforts when making employment decisions.

Progress in carbon reduction

The YouGov polling, when merged with Mace’s additional global survey data, found a clear majority of business leaders (90%) believe the property and infrastructure industry has progressed its carbon reduction efforts in the past year.

Most participants (89%) are confident their organisation is on track to achieve its own reduction targets.

There was also an increased urgency to address climate challenges over the past year.

60% of people set stricter targets in the past year or accelerated their efforts to meet existing targets.

The polling uncovered a growing recognition that more needs to happen to curb the climate challenge.

Approximately seven in 10 respondents (up from 46% in 2020) said more should be done to cut carbon emissions by those responsible for developing, constructing and operating buildings and infrastructure.

To read comments from Mark Holmes, Deputy Chairman of Mace, click here.