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Not so long ago the Environment Agency, the public body charged with the tall order of keeping England’s land green and pleasant, claimed that greater compliance with green legislation could save small business millions of pounds.

The agency suggested that £58 million was currently saved by SMEs complying with such guidelines.

More research, this time by the Carbon Trust, found that £2.5 billion could be saved by SMEs if they implemented energy-efficiency measures, such as turning off computers and lights, turning down heating and improving insulation systems.

It’s fairly common sense stuff but I suspect that, for many smaller companies, the motivation for green initiatives will be based on necessity rather than a soft-focus love of trees, plants and future generations.

The fuel crisis is a case in point. Charlie Mullins is the MD of London-based Pimlico Plumbers, which carries out around 1,400 jobs a week. ‘We spend a lot on fuel,’ he says. ‘The most important system we have to minimise fuel costs is a tracker fitted to all vehicles that pinpoints where any plumber is and allows us to send him direct to the nearest job.’ Similarly, Stewart Yates, CEO of TFM Network, a virtual network operator, is reducing road costs by encouraging staff to work from home.

In their own small way, such measures are environmentally friendly but they are emphatically motivated by necessity. While the multinationals may be hostages to brand and reputation, thereby compelled to go green, a small business has the more pressing question of basic financial survival.

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