Chamber of Commerce
Liverpool Chamber of Commerce is working in partnership with Groundwork Merseyside and Liverpool Vision to put a practical programme of information and support together for the Year of the Environment.
We aim to give Liverpool businesses ‘the green edge’ through a range of awareness raising initiatives and support. Chamber Chief Executive Jack Stopforth commented: “All of the city’s business and organisations should be looking to improve their environmental performance. It is important that the private sector is as engaged as the public sector in this area.”
The Liverpool city region ‘Mini Stern’ report outlines the UK target of 80% reduction of carbon by 2050 with the challenge for business to sustain economic growth with this limitation. On Merseyside 96% of greenhouse gases produced are C02 so reduction methods are focused on carbon trading.
The threats to Merseyside’s economy through this government commitment is the expectation that business will be fully paying the cost of their carbon consumption by 2020 estimated to be £200M a year calculated at 1% GVA.
On Merseyside, encouraging growth is paramount so that the region keeps pace with the northwest and with the UK as a whole.
Jack continued: “When business is tough it’s easy to dismiss environmental management as a distraction. Liverpool Chamber of Commerce is a business just like our many members. We have to supplement the income we get from members subscriptions and events with a raft of commercial business ventures. We know from experience that new business is increasingly hard to come by and pressure on margins is forcing us to look hard at our costs. But we are finding that environmentally sound policies are not just ethically sound but also make good business sense.”
The Chamber is working towards BS 8555 - an Environmental Management system and we are encouraging the biggest businesses in the city to do the same. Companies who prepare and adapt now will be the market leaders of the future.
Liverpool Chamber can advise businesses on energy use and the significant cost savings to be made. We believe there will be a growing number of green business opportunities as the low carbon agenda unfolds. This year our Green Business Ambassadors programme is continuing to highlight sustainability to the Merseyside business community.
