Marketers consider that going green is rapidly becoming a marketing ‘must' although the majority of UK companies have no plans in place to ensure marketing activity is environmentally friendly.

This is according to research commissioned by GreenPortfolio, a specialist environmental relations division of Portfolio Communications.

The findings have been taken from research carried out online amongst 125 UK organisations and were a mix of PR, marketing directors and managers.

Results reveal that 50 per cent of marketing and PR management believe that an organisation's environmental credentials are important to customers; and 84 per cent predict this importance is likely to grow further over the next two years as the impact of green issues continues to intensify.

However, despite these findings, three out of four (72 per cent) companies have no environmental policy in place and only one in three (33 per cent) have senior management buy-in when it comes to going green, stressing an urgent need for developments in green marketing planning. 

Rebecca Dunstan, environmental PR consultant at GreenPortfolio, comments on the findings, "Being green is no longer nice-to-have, it's a marketing must otherwise companies run the risk of losing customers, employees and shareholders. It's clear there's a need to do more planning in this area - a phenomenal number of companies have no green marketing plans in place at all and even those that do tend to approach environmental issues on an ad hoc basis."

Additionally, 48 per cent of the communication industry also believes customers are prepared to pay more for environmentally friendly products and services. Nonetheless, legislation is regarded as the biggest driver when it comes to improving a businesses environmental status with 80 per cent of respondents believing organisations only take action when legally required to do so. This is in spite of a substantial 97 per cent, which believe there is a moral obligation to take a focus on environment.

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