Promoting corporate environmental responsibility and ensuring businesses in Scotland are aware of environmental legislation are key objectives for SEPA. An important element of its strategy is the NetRegs website (hosted in partnership with the Northern Ireland Protection Agency), which offers free guidance to SME businesses on corporate environmental responsibility, legislation and the economic benefits of a responsible environmental approach to business. As part of the on-going development of this resource, SEPA needed to understand SME attitudes and behaviours in relation to environmental issues, as well as the benefits of NetRegs for its target audience.
In order to deliver robust data across both Scotland and Norther Ireland, our in-house CATI unit conducted two large-scale phone surveys with SMEs in 2016 and 2020 (samples of 1,006 and 895) to speak to employees responsible for environmental decisions, such as waste management and water and energy use. We successfully engaged with businesses in sectors including agriculture, construction, healthcare, hospitality, transport, education, financial services and food and drink manufacture, ensuring the sample was broadly representative of SMEs.
We delivered detailed analysis, including three separate reports covering Scotland, Northern Ireland and combined. These reports provided SEPA and NIEA with crucial insight into the value of the NetRegs website, and an up-to-date picture of current attitudes within the SME business sector towards environmental management, future planning to improve environmental performance and work towards net zero carbon emissions.
“NetRegs have worked with Progressive since 2016 to conduct business research among SMEs in Scotland and Northern Ireland, to provide an up-to-date picture of current attitudes and awareness in relation to our NetRegs website and environmental issues. Progressive have always delivered clear and concise reports, with a high standard of professionalism.” Andrew Wallace, NetRegs, SEPA
