Is government grant to steel industry the right way forward and how can CSR drive profit?

Last weekend the news was revealed that the UK government will be giving £300 million to the two biggest stell producers in the UK, Tata and British Steel. The purpose of the grant is to help both these companies become greener and is part of the government’s strategy to hit its net zero target.

However, as always happens when this type of announcement is made, there are doubters, many of whom think that the government shouldn’t be supporting any industry that has such as big carbon footprint.

One thing is certain, if we don’t make significant changes over the next few years we are all in trouble. But, we also have to understand that we cannot make such a massive change overnight and in the modern world, there are certain industries that we will still need and unfortunately the steel industry is one of these.

What I do believe is that we all have to drastically change how we live our lives, assess what we need as opposed to what we would like and make far more considered purchase decisions. This applies to both businesses and individuals. When we are making that decision, what is the impact on us going to be, what is the long term impact on the planet going to be and is there an alternative that will be better for us all.

Alongside the article on this grant the BBC also published an article that details the need to use technology to fight climate change. Technology provides us with many opportunities, not only to monitor and record the environmental impact of our decisions but also, in many instances we can use technology to reduce the footprint as has been illustrated with the move to hybrid working.

What we must all do is start this process now, when we are doing our business planning, we must include environmental and community activities immediately. Many businesses will think that this will cost them more and therefore not be possible, especially under the current economic conditions, however that is not the case. Have a look at the CSR Accreditation website and you will see how a CSR strategy can not only help you increase your business profile but in many instances can help reduce your short and long term costs, ultimately increasing your profitability.

To find out how a CSR strategy can reduce your costs and increase your profit please get in touch.