Calculating and reducing the carbon footprint is challenging – especially for small and medium enterprises (SME). Not only do most SME lack the tools that big corporations have; they also do not have the overhead and project management resources to manage and measure their emissions in a timely manner.
A new survey by Sme-climatehub reveals that half of SMEs calculate (some of) their emissions, and 60% have plans to reduce their carbon impact. However, two-thirds of SME surveyed are worried they don’t have the right skills and knowledge to tackle the climate crisis. Among the reasons are lack of skills and knowledge (63%), funding (48%) and time (40%).*
The first step toward reducing business carbon emissions is – for SME just like for blue chips – to understand their carbon footprint, especially the “main carbon drivers” – which is in many cases easier said than done. We have therefore built a free calculator that helps SME to take this first step: understanding their emissions. It is built on GHG-P, the widely-used international protocol for carbon accounting. As a fully automated, high-level calculation tool, it is perfectly suited to identify many of our clients “main carbon drivers”.
However, especially in our customers’ value chains, our free calculator cannot yet cover edge cases in every industry. We therefore provide additional support to SME who want to drill deeper and get an even clearer view on all aspects of their carbon footprint. This calculation is also based on the GHG-P, the widely-used international protocol for carbon accounting. Our calculation engine uses science-based emissions data and a combination of spend-based and activity-based methods to calculate a company’s greenhouse gas emissions. It involves less assumptions in our clients value chain, by leveraging our “expert in the loop” operating model. Even SME can have substantial and complex value chains, and accounting for their emissions along the value chain can be difficult. But because for many SME, 90% and more of their emissions can be found in Scope 3, it’s essential to get accurate measurements.
