Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment * Correspondence to: Andrea Revell, Kingston University, River House, 53–57 High Street, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey KT1 1LQ, UK. E-mail: andreastokes@hotmail.com Business Strategy and the Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 19, 273–288 (2010) Published online 16 February 2009 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/bse.628 Small Businesses and the Environment: Turning Over a New Leaf ? Andrea Revell,* David Stokes and Hsin Chen Kingston University, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, UK ABSTRACT Previous studies on the environmental practices of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK and beyond have portrayed owner-managers as laggards who underplay their firm’s environmental impacts and resist environmental management due to its per- ceived cost. Yet a recent cross-sector survey of 220 UK SMEs suggests that this intransigent stance may be slowly changing. Responses indicate a high percentage of owner-managers actively involved in recycling, energy efficiency, responsible buying and selling, and efforts to reduce their carbon emissions. Owner-managers saw it as their responsibility to help solve environmental problems and were reportedly willing to accept the costs of tougher environmental regulations and taxation. Business owners were motivated not just by the ‘push’ of legislation and environmental concern but by the ‘pull’ of potential cost savings, new customers, higher staff retention and good publicity for their firms. The survey also found that owner-managers had resonance with the Stern Review’s (2006) conclusions that the benefits of strong early action on climate change outweigh the costs, and that a transi- tion to a low-carbon economy will bring opportunities for business growth. This indicates that SMEs may be coming round to the idea that there is a business case for sustainability, although there is still some scepticism on the overall profitability of environmental action. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. Received 9 October 2007; revised 29 April 2008; accepted 2 May 2008 Keywords: SMEs; environmental management; owner-manager; sustainability; environmental policy Introduction O VER THE LAST DECADE, THE DEGRADATION OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT HAS BECOME A MAJOR CONCERN OF scientists, governments, business leaders and the public at large. In a recent report, the Intergovern- mental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007) concluded that there is now undeniable evidence that climate change is the result of human activities, and that urgent action must be taken to avert envi- ronmental collapse. Commissioned by the UK government, the Stern Review (2006) stressed the dire economic as well as environ- mental consequences of continuing to adopt a ‘business as usual’ attitude towards environmental issues. This groundbreaking report on the economics of climate change made a positive case for action, asserting that ‘tackling