With almost seven out of 10 UK bosses responding to the slowing economy by seeking to trim costs, energy efficiency has emerged as on of the top cost saving priorities within many organisations.

That is the finding of a major survey of more than 850 senior executives carried out by the Carbon Trust, which found that energy efficiency measures are being widely preferred to redundancies, and recruitment and salary freezes as the best means of initially lowering overheads.

The survey revealed that nearly a third of respondents were encouraging staff to reduce energy waste and over a quarter were prioritising more general energy efficiency measures. In contrast, 17 per cent rated redundancies as the favoured cost cutting options, while just 24 per cent identified salary freezes or below inflation pay rises as their preferred option.

"Our research shows that energy efficiency measures, not job cuts or salary freezes, are the cost-cutting steps businesses are considering first during this economically challenging time," said Hugh Jones, solutions director at the Carbon Trust. "It's an encouraging sign that wise companies are realising that cutting carbon and being green is the easiest way to make a business lean."

Neil Bentley, director of business environment at the CBI, welcomed the research as further evidence that despite the "choppy economic outlook" climate change and energy efficiency remain high on the corporate agenda. "The analysis confirms the compelling business case for urgent action to improve energy efficiency and common-sense measures like turning off lights and turning the heating down can lead to substantial reductions in firms' energy bills," he said.

The report also provided evidence that embracing energy saving measures, such as improved insulation, PC turn off campaigns and more efficient heating and cooling equipment, can deliver financial savings on a similar scale to those that can be achieved through job cuts. It calculated that UK plc could save nearly £2.5bn over the next year simply by implementing cost effective energy efficiency measures, cutting companies energy bills by an average of 13 per cent. The report argued that the savings were equivalent to the combined salaries of 100,000 employees on an average wage.

David Boomer, head of energy efficiency and climate change at the Institute of Directors (IoD), said that the findings echoed the employers group's own findings. "The IoD's research shows that those businesses currently addressing energy efficiency have reduced their bills by between six and 10 per cent, with savings of up to 20 per cent being achievable," he observed.