Nearly 80% of business leaders in the UK and Ireland’s energy sector believe the ongoing energy crisis will impact their organisations’ ability to meet emissions reduction plans.

That’s according to new research by Schneider Electric, which suggests among this group (80%), nearly half of the organisations (49%) have decided to delay planned investments in sustainability and net zero initiatives.

Additionally, nearly 41% of these companies have identified more immediate business challenges, temporarily taking precedence over their carbon net zero objectives.

An additional 46% noted that their stakeholders no longer consider emission reduction targets as high-priority issues.

For some organisations, practical action to meet these targets has proven challenging, with 20% citing difficulties.

Kelly Becker, Zone President, Schneider Electric UK and Ireland, said: “It’s not all doom and gloom: as our research shows, business leaders still believe in their climate change ambitions – they simply need to push the subject back up the corporate agenda.”