Business benefits of resource efficiency

Oakdene Hollins presentation and research report on business benefits of resource efficiency

At RRF's annual general meeting (July 2, 2008), members received an illuminating presentation from Dr Peter Lee of Oakdene Hollins consultancy, who has led some pioneering research into a project for Defra to place an economic value on the benefits available to businesses from improvements in resource efficiency that require negligible capital investment.

The study investigated the benefits from improving the use of water and energy as well as reducing waste. The work, undertaken in cooperation with accountants Grant Thornton, has been published and provides a mine of data that includes a regional breakdown as well as identifying where the largest opportunities arise by business sector.

This study estimates the total value of low cost / no cost resource efficiency savings within the range of £5.6 bn to £7.4 bn (Mean = £6.4 billion). This equates to 0.6% of UK GVA and 1.9% of UK gross operating surplus (profit).

Copies of Peter's presentation Business Benefits of Resource Efficiency (PDF, 1MB) are available from this link.

Copies of the full Oakdene Hollins report Business Benefits of Resource Efficiency (1.6 MB) can be downloaded from here.