Just Good Business buzz : Green or profitable?

It seems only about third of New Zealand’s privately owned businesses would introduce environmental practices if they were to negatively affect the financial bottom line. That’s according to Grant Thornton International Business Report which rated this country 34th out of 36 – just behind Russia on the not-so-green scale.
Another 53 percent said they would not introduce such practices and 13 percent did not know.
In contrast, in Australia 55 percent said yes to environmentally friendly practices, 36 percent said no, and nine percent did not know – putting Australia in 15th place on the global league table. Describing it as the sort of pragmatism the privately held companies tend to adopt, Grant Thornton NZ’s spokesman Peter Sherwin notes that it does make “our environmental image somewhat fragile”. It could, he adds be something of reality check.
“This is middle New Zealand talking… and could also reinforce the current Government’s more cautious approach to embracing climate-change actions and financial imposts.”
Ironically, the same businesses held much bolder view when it came to the question, “How environmentally friendly do you consider the business community in your country to be?” New Zealand registered positive balance of 34 percent on this question, equal with Brazil in 17th place, although still down on Australia, which had positive balance of 45 percent and was in 12th place.