Large Companies Are More Environmentally Conscious

Large companies pay more attention to sustainability than smaller ones, but there are also differences in environmental awareness based on activity, GKI Economic Research Co. told the state news agency MTI on Thursday.

According to the research institute's survey, the vast majority of companies strive to reduce their environmental impact, 56% of them do so often, 32% occasionally, such as collecting waste separately or using energy-saving light bulbs. Firms with between 150 and 250 employees are the most active in this respect, while commercial and business service providers are the most active in terms of activity.

Overall, however, industrial firms are the most environmentally conscious, with only 4% doing nothing for the environment, the researchers found.

The breakdown by company size is similar for those with EMAS or ISO 14001 (environmental management system) certification, with larger companies also leading the way with over 70%, compared to an average of 25%. Only 11.5% of companies with fewer than 11 employees are certified, although it takes a lot of work to obtain and maintain this certification. Industrial companies also lead this group by activity with 47%, they said.

Based on the feedback, GKI believes that the environmental efforts of small businesses need to be better supported, as they have less visibility of the return on these activities and tend to only occasionally address environmental protection. These aspects are becoming increasingly popular among multinational companies, but domestically only larger firms tend to follow suit, they added.

The survey quoted in the release was conducted in May this year. The environmental questions were answered by 900 companies, most of them small and medium-sized enterprises.