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A big focus on many government schemes, news headlines and advertising campaigns are all geared towards "Greener" living. Green taxes have been introduced, which will charge for using non-environmentally friendly products, like fuel tax and air passenger duty. Companies are also faced with this tax if there company has non "Green" factors about like, road engineering companies and fuel companies. Fines are also given out to those who do not abide by the environmental guidelines. It is impossible to have a carbon footprint of zero but we should all be working towards living in a more environmentally friendly way. Are all these eco-efforts and green fines working though? Let's go through it all to see what companies may or may not be doing for the environment. Briton is raising billions of pounds through green taxes but is giving out little or no reward for those who are environmentally friendly. Many have claimed that the government are just using the "Green" movement to raise tax but have other means in mind for the money raised. Green taxes are found in products like fuel, non renewable gas and air passenger duty. Each family pays around £400 more per year in green taxes and many are claiming this to be unfair. Overall Britain's households are raising £10million nationwide in Green taxes. Reports by accountants UHY Hacker Young claim that the treasury receives £29.3 billion a year through green taxes but only puts £254 million back to those who live ecologically like using environmentally friendly cars. As well as households being taxed in the name of "Green" but companies are also being fined if their area of business is of the polluting nature. Several of UK's biggest firms were fined in total £700,000 last year for polluting. John Lewis was fined £12,000 after diesel oil leaked from its Reading store and Porsche were fined £25,000 for not following packaging waste laws. The total of fines given to firms last year was over doubled the total from the previous. Jailed sentences and community service sentences have been given to individuals and company directors who have committed the environmental crimes. Jail sentences seem a bit extreme but these multinational companies need a shock punishment that money cannot get you out of. In this day in age serious measures have to be taken to save the planet and it's often these big companies that cause the most damage and then it reflects on their consumers. It seems that other companies have been making more of a positive contribution towards environmentally friendly products or products that have been environmentally produced. Marks and Spencer thinks that fashion does not have to be at cost to the environment. Marks and Spencer has launched Plan A, a £200 million eco-refit. By 2012 it claims it will be carbon neutral by taking 100,000 cars off the road. They plan to put warning tickets on air-freighted products and making clothes from fair trade cotton.
Other companies have started a "Green" way of selling. The head of Tesco is prepared to raise prices if it means he can deliver more "Greener" products. All companies seem to be joining the Green Gang with finance companies like Barclays with the new credit card which aims to spend 50% of profits on helping climate change and O2 selling special contracts to those who keep their old handsets. Even media Super Dogs like Sky state that they will power its operations with renewable energy; they have a carbon calculator on their website and have reduced CO2 emissions by 50% on their operating sights. They state that they are doing more to help the household reduce carbon emissions by designing more energy efficient Sky set-top boxes. But again all these positive actions come hand in hand with counteractive negatives. Are all these companies generally doing there it for the environment or is it just all just an ad campaign? Joining the scheme to make them more money, but surely buying more things is not going to help in the long run. In the retail world we live in, more is considered to be a necessity in our lives. Times have changed where now the norm is to have DVD players, digital TV and more than one holiday abroad each year. Retail companies may sell fair trade clothes or clothes made from recyclable products. But the whole idea behind fashion is that new ideas will push out the others and therefore will be put out with the rubbish. Mobile phone companies may sell these great contracts but many mobile phones are only designed to last for 11 months anyway and fashion and technology will always advertise a new and improved model. Media companies like Sky Will still have channels that will advertise for fast cars or cheap yet long haul holidays. In conclusion these fines seem a good method but only if the money rose are put back into the same cause. Fines should motivate companies to change their ways, people should be rewarded for their "Greener" way of life and the money raised should be used to help people to live more environmentally friendly. If this is not case, long term the world will still not be environmentally better off. It seems like it might be a cash flow project with an Altria motive. It should not just be left up to the government to sort out global warming issues; companies should get involve as they have the power to save or destroy the environment. They will also have the impact on consumers who will have secondary impact whether global warming can be reduced. Its good that companies are thinking about climate change and making changes to the products they produce and they way they run the company. Customers will have to take all these new sales pitches with caution, listen to the advice but do not feel the need to buy everything. Certain things like energy saving light bulbs and getting a renewable energy supplier are good investments to swap in. buying energy saving appliances like washing machines and set top boxes are good to invest in only if you are upgrading anyway, as it will still take lots of energy to produce the products in the first place.
Staff editor, Gas & Electricity Section, November 2007 |
