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Cynicism about the recent 'green Budget' is rife among SMEs, a business think-tank has suggested.
Becoming more environmentally friendly has cost such businesses £1.3 billion over the past year, according to the Tenon Forum.
It claims that exhorbitant costs are dampening businesses' appetite for going green, with 42% of UK SMEs failing to implement any environmental measures to date, and 19% having no plans to do so in the future.
And 27% of firms believe the cost of recycling and improving energy-efficiency outweighs the benefits for business.
The Tenon Forum - part of professional services group Tenon - also found that 60% of owner-managers believe the Government's efforts to drive green business behaviour are motivated by the desire to win votes, rather than out of genuine concern for the environment.
However, almost half of owner-managers agree that the UK tax regime should be used to encourage green practices among businesses, but around the same amount agree that this revenue should be ring-fenced to fund environmental initiatives.
Tenon's national head of tax, Andrew Jupp, 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 [ministers] find ways of making this easier.
'Entrepreneurs need the Government to motivate and reward best environmental practices so that green behaviour makes a genuine difference to [SMEs'] bottom line.'
