The Tenon Forum has said that SMEs have spent £3.1 billion during the past year on environmental initiatives.
Their findings showed that 42% have failed to implement any environmental measures to date whilst 19% have no plans to do so in the future.
Andrew Jupp, Tenon’s national head of tax, said: “Thousands of pounds worth of green taxes are stretching SMEs to their limit and with the government advocating green business practice so vehemently, it’s crucial they find ways of making this easier and suggest viable ways to do so.”
He said that many SMEs are keen to reduce their carbon footprint but the government is making it difficult and expensive to do this.
Over a quarter of firms in the study believed the costs of adopting environmentally friendly behaviour outweigh the benefits for business.