Roger Trapp: Sustainability cannot just be put aside during an economic downturn

Those in favour of encouraging business to think more about its social and environmental impact – in short, to "go green" – have enough trouble winning converts when the going is good. When times are tougher – and, for all the optimism voiced in these pages in the past few months, they seem to be that now – the task can seem nigh on impossible.

Yet there is a growing belief that sustainability has become so vital to business that it can no longer be put aside when the economy is going through a bad patch only to be picked up again when things are looking a little rosier. Which is why – even with the markets in turmoil and the threat of imminent recession extremely real – during this Small Business Week a day is being devoted to sustainability and serious people are discussing the best way forward.

If this seems a little frivolous, it is perhaps worth remembering that this whole approach started back in the early 1990s, when – if the markets were experiencing nothing like the current crisis – Britain and other industrialised countries were also experiencing economic woes.

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Then, as now, BT was in the vanguard. Indeed, Chris Tuppen, the telecommunications giant's chief sustainability officer, as the company's first environment manager, played a significant part in developing the corporate approach to environmental concerns through reporting on issues other than pure financials.

In the years since then, this activity and the thinking around it has become more refined so that many companies believe there is a strong business case for going green. Rather than seeing concerns about the environment as an added cost, they regard thinking environmentally as a way of reducing waste and hence of cutting costs.

Hitherto, such thinking has largely been the preserve of "big business". While many smaller businesses start with a desire to be environmentally and socially responsible, many others – typically those that have been in existence for some time – tend to see such concerns as another aspect of the "red tape" by which they feel their operations are blighted.

Tuppen will this Thursday be chairing a round table on how small and medium-sized enterprises can answer the sustainability challenge. Among the questions he and other participants will discuss are what businesses need to do to grapple with sustainability, what are the main barriers, what is needed in terms of support and advice, whether there are sufficient incentives and what are the consequences of not getting to grips with the issue.

Cynics will argue that it is little wonder that BT takes the issue seriously. Though it still employs many people and runs various offices and fleets of vehicles around the country, it can hardly be characterised as a big polluter. Moreover, as a telecommunications provider, it has something of a vested interest in encouraging people – whether in business or privately – to believe that, in the words of one of its old ads, "it's good to talk". Every minute somebody spends on the telephone rather than in a face-to-face meeting is good for BT, goes the thinking.

But, of course, these days, it is about much more than telephone calls versus face-to-face meetings. Computers, mobile telephones and other increasingly sophisticated technology, particularly video-conferencing, are making the arguments in favour of face-to-face meetings – particularly if they involve travel – much less convincing.

Avoiding travelling to meetings is just one way of saving time, money and reducing environmental impact. But the powerful message for smaller businesses is that videoconferencing and other forms of communications technology are no longer the preserve of big business. Moreover, they are no longer provided just by large companies such as BT. Indeed, many of the businesses providing the latest technology in communications are themselves small businesses.

Nor is this trend confined to communications. Many of the innovative approaches to other aspects of environmental management are coming from entrepreneurs, too. For them, at least, concern over sustainability is providing opportunities rather than threats.

businessmonthly@independent.co.uk