Three new tools make it easier than ever for corporates to engage their SMEs
We Mean Business Coalition
The SME Climate Hub has launched resources to help companies scale and track their engagement with SME suppliers.
Smart companies already know that one of the easiest ways to engage small and medium-sized suppliers to take climate action is by directing them to the SME Climate Hub. An initiative of We Mean Business Coalition created in partnership with the Exponential Roadmap Initiative and the UN Climate Change High Level Champion’s Race to Zero campaign, the SME Climate Hub empowers small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) to take climate action and build resilient businesses for the future.
But did you know that the SME Climate Hub isn’t just for SMEs? It also has a growing suite of tools that larger companies can leverage to engage small businesses in their value chains? Here are three tools that companies serious about tackling their supply chain emissions would do well to familiarise themselves with – alongside other best-in-class guidance and approaches to accelerate supply chain decarbonization.
1. Mobilize your SMEs
The SME Climate Hub’s new Mobilize Your SMEs page offers free resources to help corporations and other actors to engage and support the small businesses in their network to take climate action. Corporates can use the free ready-made guides and content including letter templates and social media assets to encourage SMEs in their value chain and networks to take climate action and join the SME Climate Hub community.
2. Find out which SMEs are already taking action
The SME Climate Hub’s ‘Our SMEs’ page is a regularly updated resource that lists the growing number of small and medium-sized businesses that have made the SME Climate Commitment and are taking climate action using the SME Climate Hub’s tools and resources.
SMEs commit to reporting their emissions yearly as part of the SME Climate Commitment. Their businesses’ reporting status is listed on this page along with their public reports.
3.Access emissions reports
The SME Climate Hub has recently updated its free reporting tool for SMEs based on feedback from small- and medium-sized businesses. The tool aims to provide an accessible and tailored reporting pathway for smaller companies.
Larger corporations can access the public reports of their SMEs to help track their Scope 3 emissions and assess their suppliers’ climate action progress. Alongside free tools for emissions measurement and action, the SME Climate Hub’s reporting tool helps companies to evaluate decarbonization efforts and increase business transparency. Over 500 SMEs reported their emissions through the SME Climate Hub in 2023.
For larger corporations there is much to be gained by helping smaller businesses in their value chains to overcome barriers to climate action. Companies that engage their suppliers to cut carbon pollution are building resilience and helping to protect people and economies from extreme weather and other climate impacts. In some countries, over three-quarters of smaller businesses are part of supply chains. That means they are key to tackling supply chain emissions, which can be as much as 26 times higher than operational emissions.
We hope that some of the above tools will inspire your business to take action to decarbonize your value chain today.