Wednesday 24 November 2010

British Gas boss wants a green deal for SMEs

The boss of British Gas Business today said that SMEs were the forgotten part of UK industry when it comes to energy.

Kanat Emiroglu told the Environment Agency's annual conference in Westminster: "We need to start thinking about smaller and medium-sized enterprises. SME's account for 45% of the private sector economy in the UK, 52% of the employment and about a quarter of carbon emissions."

But he added: "Currently there is no scheme for the energy efficiency for SME's." He said he would like to see a "Green Deal" for SMEs: "It incentivises them to go low carbon."

Mr Emiroglu, who was director of the SME division at British Gas Business before becoming its managing director, also stressed that energy must be made into "boardroom material".

He said it was vital energy "isn't just an issue for a middle-ranking manager of the procurement department, or worse, only a PR issue."