• Research found that 83% of organisations are aiming to be carbon neutral by end of 2025

• Nine in ten say increased carbon tax will accelerate these efforts over next three years

• Some 60% of respondents believe it will make them slightly more attractive to customers

Techies Go Green’s recent survey revealed that over 83% of its signatories are aiming to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025 – five years ahead of the Movement’s own goal of making every signatory carbon neutral by 2030.

The survey was carried out with 53 of the Techies Go Green signatories, who are all in different stages of working towards a greener and more sustainable path in business.

The recent survey revealed that more than two thirds (67%) of respondents think it will be difficult to become carbon neutral – with 60% saying it will be somewhat difficult and 6% saying it will be very difficult.

Despite this, the research found that 83% of respondents surveyed are aiming to achieve carbon neutrality by the end of 2025 with 8% of respondents aiming to achieve carbon neutrality by the end of 2021. The remining 16.6% aim to be carbon neutral by 2030 and a further 4% after 2030.

As for the reasons driving sustainability efforts, nine in ten respondents (90%) say increasing carbon taxes will accelerate their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint over the next three years. Meanwhile, some 31% believe it will give them significant marketing advantage and a further 60% say it will make them slightly more attractive to customers.

The survey also revealed that a quarter (25%) of respondents believe it will give them significant recruiting advantage, with one in ten believing they will lose employees if they do not become carbon neutral.

Is it hard for businesses to become carbon neutral?

The survey highlighted the difficulty in businesses becoming carbon neutral, with over 60% stating it will be somewhat difficult to reach their aim of carbon neutrality. However, that being said, 62.5% don’t think it will cost much to become carbon neutral with 12.5% of respondents citing it will pay for itself.

This difficulty can be eased, through the support and community available in Techies Go Green. As a community of IT and tech-oriented companies, signatories support each other in their efforts by sharing tips and advice on how to become more sustainable.

Are there other benefits to becoming carbon neutral?

Sustainability is on everyone’s lips – and that includes employees and customers. Results show that the goal of sustainability will give companies a significant recruiting advantage – with over 65% believe they’ll become more attractive to employees. 10% even believe they could lose employees in the future if they do not meet their carbon neutral goal.

Going green? Go electric!

It’s never been easier for businesses to switch to a cleaner energy source - and the results speak to themselves. A third of respondents have said they are already using a green electricity provider. What’s more, a fifth of respondents are already considering changing their company vehicles to electric this year, with a further 15% doing this next year (2022).

If you’re looking to switch to renewable electricity, check out this recent post we did on the support available for businesses looking to switch the renewable power. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) also have tonnes of information to support businesses looking to switch to electric vehicles.

Other Key Survey Results

• Just over 30% of respondent believe that it will give them significant marketing advantage when attracting new customers and suppliers if they become carbon neutral with a further 60% citing it will make them slightly more attractive to their customers.

• 87.5% of respondents would move their corporate workloads and apps to the cloud citing the top reasons to be it would reduce their carbon footprint as data centres are more efficient power users (79%), More easily managed (76%) and More secure (67%).

• Over half of respondents will measure their own carbon footprint (54%) with 21% planning to scientifically measure their carbon footprint.

• Finally on a very positive note no respondent reported it has lost a customer or tender due to not being able to demonstrate their sustainability pedigree with 73% of respondents citing they have not lost a customer with the rest of respondents saying they don’t know.

This survey was carried out by 53 Techies Go Green signatories from the UK and Ireland in May 2021