SMEs have an 'enormous part to play' in making offices in the UK greener, one celebrity environmentalist claims.

Penny Poyzer, a celebrity environmentalist, says that many of us have the impression that the bigger companies are the largest employers but this is not the case.

She says: 'In actual fact 99 per cent of all businesses in the UK are SMEs, and they’re employing around about 50 per cent of everybody in the UK, so SMEs have an enormous part to play.'

Poyzner adds that companies can save money by making simple changes in the workplace in relation to their use of water, electricity and paper as prices for all these utilities are soaring.

According to Envirowise, there is a high level of environmental awareness among SMEs as research, carried out between May and June 2007, showed that 79 per cent of SMEs regard energy efficiency as important.

A further 11 per cent are changing their business strategy in order to become more energy efficient.

See also: The case for serviced offices