Together we must halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. The commitment of citizens is essential for this, but that of governments and companies even more so. As mentioned in a previous article, some SMEs are “bad students” when it comes to reducing their carbon footprint. In question ? The lack of adequate financial resources to activate or accelerate their transition. This observation is confirmed by a study by the SME Climate Hub, cited in an article published by the Harvard Business Review† Two-thirds of SMEs surveyed believe they do not have the resources to move forward, or even begin the transition to a more environmentally friendly and sustainable model. How to help these structures? The answer, according to the authors and the author of the article, lies on the side of the big companies. Here’s how they can trade.
Guiding SMEs with their CO2 footprint
The first simple action big companies can take, according to the authors of the article? It is simply a matter of directing SMEs to tools to measure their carbon footprint and thus enable them to initiate internal change.
Harvard Business Review cites the SME Climate Hub in resources, particularly as it is a partner of 1.5°C Supply Chain Leaders. Itself brings together several large groups such as Ericsson, IKEA, Mastercard and Microsoft. They work together to reduce CO2 impact “along global supply chains”†
Participate in creating more resilient supply chains
This work is essential as it would enable large companies to create more resilient supply chains. In the age of climate change, but also of health crises such as we have been experiencing for more than two years, “building resilient businesses has never been more important”, write the authors and author of the article. Especially if we know that too “Most of a large company’s greenhouse gas emissions come from its supply chains”“, we can read in the article.
“Supply chain emissions are on average more than 11 times higher than emissions produced within its own walls.”
Harvard Business Review
Provide financial support
With resources superior to their suppliers, large companies can provide commercial benefits and financial support to the SMEs they interact with directly. This support is needed as almost half of the companies surveyed by SME Climate Hub indicated that the lack of resources prevented them from taking action to reduce their CO2 emissions.
These costs can be amortized over a more or less long term, but it is necessary to be able to advance them. This is where large companies can act and contribute to the survival of SMEs, but also to the future of the planet.
“We are urging major companies and their suppliers to work together to show”conclude Maria Mendiluce (CEO of the We Mean Business coalition), Johan Falk (CEO of the Exponential Roadmap Initiative) and Kristian Rönn (CEO of Normative). “It will take unprecedented collaboration to ensure a livable planet for generations to come.”