Are companies at their green limit?

Businesses working to lower their carbon emissions might come to a point where they cannot do more because of external factors, according to Forum for the Future.

Iain Watt, principle sustainability advisor at the non-profit organisation suggested that while retailers like Marks & Spencer can work towards sustainability by sourcing from low carbon suppliers and saving energy in buildings, they will still be reliant on the rest of the supply chain.

"Lots of companies at the leading edge are now coming up at the limits of what they feel they can do themselves," he said.

"If I want to really market something as a low-carbon product, I produce it as efficiently as possible but I am still beholden to the greenest of electricity in the region I am sourcing from."

He added that a firm's ability to become energy efficient is "entirely limited by what the nation as a whole is doing".

Carbon Trust research shows that the number of shoppers who shun a store with a large carbon footprint has doubled in the past year, suggesting that consumers are conscious of where their goods come from.