Small Businesses: Leading Role in Greener Future

According to Senator John Kerry and Olympia Snow, “Small businesses should play a leading role in forging a solution to global climate change and rising energy prices. That is why we introduced small business energy efficiency legislation that was included as a title in the Energy Independence and Security Act (H.R. 6).” The Senators went on to say, “With small businesses accounting for over half of our fuel consumption, this bill puts small business in the driver’s seat in the fight for a cleaner, greener future.”"

As a professional consultant in the area of building business sustainability, I have personally observed the ability of small businesses to quickly respond to changing market conditions, have lower risk than larger organizations, and incorporate reduced decision chain - all enabling them to integrate sustainability concepts into their businesses quickly and effectively.

In fact, small business is BIG!

The 23 million small businesses in America account for 54% of all U.S. sales.
Small businesses provide 55% of all jobs and 66% of all net new jobs since the 1970s.
The 600,000 plus franchised small businesses in the U.S. account for 40% of all retail sales and provide jobs for some 8 million people.
The small business sector in America occupies 30-50% of all commercial space, an estimated 20-34 billion square feet.

Small businesses incorporating eco awareness in daily business processes and operations are encouraged to determine the business impact in the following areas:

Energy consumption
Air pollution
Building design
Paper use
Waste reduction
Recycling program
Water conservation
Company values

The cumulative impact of the small business sector is enormous. Now is the time for small businesses to claim their position as sustainability leaders in the market and accelerate sustainable change.