Renewable availability and bureaucracy slowing business decarbonisation – survey

A survey of European business leaders has revealed that the majority have a green energy strategy in place but are challenged by the availability of the green energy itself.

The survey, which was commissioned by BayWa r.e, found that despite this readiness of business, just under half of them are only just starting to implement their green energy strategy, with other top barriers cited as bureaucratic hurdles and cost factors.

The survey also found that the business leaders consider the phase out of fossil fuels as the biggest issue that should be addressed in 2024, followed by building more storage facilities and regulation and permitting of new renewable energy projects.

“We are already more than a third of the way through the decade that matters,” said Matthias Taft, CEO at BayWa r.e.

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“Our research shows us the breadth of the challenge that still lies ahead for speeding up the renewable transition in time.”

The company explains that the survey was conducted following COP28, which ended with the call to move away from fossil fuels but left out the term ‘phasing out’.

With this, while two-thirds of the European business leaders feel that the conference will accelerate the green energy transition in their country, more than one in ten feel it will have actually slowed it down.

They also agree that politicians are most responsible for the success of the green energy transition, with national governments holding the most responsibility and additional accountability on a European-wide level largely shared by regional organisations and businesses and citizens.

Notably in Spain, however, the business leaders call out themselves as being most responsible for the green transition.

The survey also found that while the importance of renewable energy deployment is shared by business leaders across Europe, each country is facing its own specific issues.

For example, in France the skills shortage is a top barrier, whereas in Spain it is the lack of management/staff commitment and in Germany a lack of consumer commitment.

The survey was conducted at the end of 2023 with over 2,500 business decision makers in Germany, the UK, Italy, Spain and France.