There is a growing expectation that small and medium-sized enterprises also take responsibility for sustainability. This applies to everything from purchasing airline tickets when employees travel to the requirements you place on your suppliers. Fortunately, there is plenty of help available.
The right setup. Do you have an overview of what you are doing within your organization regarding sustainability - and are you doing enough?
Reporting. Is there an expectation that you can continuously report on your efforts?
Employees. How much do your employees care about a sustainable workplace, and would they perceive it as a good thing if you did more about climate and the environment?
Sustainability is here to stay - in case you should be in doubt. And there is a growing expectation that we as individuals, as employees, and as business leaders relate to how we limit our footprint and impact on the environment and climate. This also applies to small and medium-sized enterprises, and even to a particular extent, because the most prominent companies have increasingly focused on their supply chain - the so-called ’scope 3’. Scope 3 covers the emissions in the value chain and typically accounts for more than 70 percent of a company's total emissions.
At the same time, the upcoming CO2 tax will make it more expensive to emit greenhouse gases - but also more attractive to calculate, reduce and report your climate footprint.
But how do you, as a small or medium-sized enterprise, get off the ground and find a way in the climate wilderness? The good news is that knowledge, advice, and financial help are available from, for example, industry associations' pilot projects and business pools to strengthen your company's sustainability focus. New digital platforms and tools can help ensure that you take responsibility for sustainable development without costing much money. Being on the ’right page’ can be a solid and engaging employer branding tool, a competitive advantage, and a ’growth enabler’. But this, of course, all comes down to you walking the talk.
It is possible to travel without emitting a significant CO2 release and perhaps a guilty conscience, without it costing extra.
But investing in climate-compensating projects such as planting, restoring, or conserving forests can be pretty tough to navigate, and it's hard to figure out whether you're making a real and ambitious difference or just paying a symbolic indulgence on your company's carbon footprint on the planet.
Source: climaider.com
There are some different actors in the market for sustainability. Some of the best are Danish. This includes Climaider, made by some young guys who are incredibly passionate about making a difference. They are aimed at both private individuals and companies and focus on mapping the individual's climate footprint and on what can be done to reduce their emissions. At workplaces, for example, you can compare CO2 emissions between employees and create engaging climate-friendly challenges, such as eating less meat. You can also include a climate compensation for each employee for a slightly higher monthly fee.
The Danish company Goodwings offers that you and your employees can travel "net zero" - i.e. completely without a climate footprint. You book your hotel through Goodwings’ platform, and at the same time you get an overview of the total CO2 emissions for your trip. Goodwings then ensures, after the highest verifications, that a corresponding amount of CO2 is removed via already planted trees in, for example, Uruguay so that the climate gain is not many years into the future. It's a more expensive solution, but Goodwings does it free of charge for customers because they've dropped all marketing expenses instead.
One thing is what you do as a company. Another thing is whether you can document it. Here, the Danish company Valified, which i.a. Ørsted and PKA Pension own, helps create an overview that can be reported to authorities, customers, and business partners. At the same time, Valified's platform can provide the necessary data in a manageable form so you know where to focus your efforts to become a climate front-runner.
Dansk Industris website; "climate-ready SME" (Danish article)
Dansk Erhvervs page about climate and environment (Danish article)