The commitment aims to cut carbon emissions by over four million tonnes by 2020. From 2011, it will require businesses to buy allowances for their C02 emissions at a rate of £12 per tonne.

The scheme, which will launch on 1 April 2010, will require businesses to report their emissions for the first year (2010/11). From 2013, the Government will cap the number of allowances available each year and the total amount will be auctioned.

While the scheme is aimed at “large public and private-sector organisations”, Forum of Private Businesses spokesperson Chris Gorman told More Than Business News: “It is perfectly possible for a small business employing a handful of people – manufacturers for instance – to spend £500,000 a year on electricity.

“Soaring utility prices already provide enough of an incentive to keep energy consumption to an absolute minimum. Forcing these additional charges onto small businesses will no doubt be viewed simply as another stealth tax by many business owners.

He added: “Perhaps instead of spending vast amounts of money devising and implementing this scheme, the Government could have provided free advice and assessments aimed at helping businesses understand how they can cut energy consumption; reducing costs for them and helping the environment at the same time.”

The trust will relax its eligibility criteria for interest-free green loans, cutting the minimum loan amount from £5,000 to £3,000, while doubling the maximum amount available to £50,000.

It is hoped that the changes will encourage many more small businesses to invest in energy-saving technology, as well as in renewable energy technology such as solar panels and miniature wind turbines.

Carbon Trust chief executive Tom Delay announced: “Our zero per cent loan offer is as close to free money as a business can get, and is flexible enough to help almost any small or medium business, from a fish and chip shop to a factory.

“We are extending a helping hand to them by offering more than £100 million in interest-free, unsecured loans at a time when bank funding is hard to come by.”

At the same time, the organisation has announced that it has reached an agreement that will see its ‘carbon labels’ for consumer products introduced across Australia.

While nearly all (97%) would like to reduce energy consumption, nearly a quarter (23%) feel there is a lack of information on how to do so. A further 27% simply do not know what more they can do.

The biggest barriers to reducing energy consumption were revealed to be cost and time.

British Gas Business has responded by launching a new online assessment tool specifically for small businesses. The tool gives users a detailed assessment of usage and a plan of how to reduce consumption and save money.

Kanat Emiroglu, director of SME markets at British Gas Business, said: “Small businesses often lack the resources of larger organisations when it comes to analysing their energy usage and looking at ways to cut consumption.

“Cost cutting is essential to small businesses as we move deeper into the recession, but by taking simple energy efficiency measures, companies could save up to 20%.”

All small businesses who use the facility in May will be entered for a free prize draw to win a spring break in the UK.

For tips on how you can save energy and money, see our article Cutting carbon, cutting costs: simple ways to save your business energy.

The initiative focuses on the cost-benefits of cutting back energy usage, rather than on whether or not climate change is a reality.

The One Million a Day campaign aims to raise awareness of the potential massive savings businesses could make on their energy bills.

According to the Carbon Trust, UK firms could save a total of at least £1 million every day by implementing energy efficiency measures.

Most companies could cut their energy bills by as much as 20% simply by improving their lighting and installing more energy efficient heating systems.

“All businesses, whether big or small, should realise easy cost savings by taking sensible energy efficiency measures,” said Tom Delay, Carbon Trust chief executive.

“Every business should be asking how much cash their company can save by cutting carbon.”

Small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) can apply to the Carbon Trust for interest-free energy efficiency loans of up to £200,000.

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Cutting carbon, cutting costs – ways to save your business energy