How can SMEs play a vital role in planetary recovery?

If you own or work for an SME, sometimes it can feel like our contribution to creating sustainable economies can be rather small.  

But actually together SMEs can have a powerful impact on halting the impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.

SMEs represent ~90% of businesses and more than 50% of employment worldwide… together that is a lot of power and influence!

Especially when you consider that SMEs come in all shapes and sizes (up to 250 employees). So a company of 5 people with a turnover of £500k and a company of 250 with a turnover of £50 million are both classed as an SME.

Whilst currently most environmental regulations are aimed at larger businesses, there will be increasing requirements on the SMEs in their supply chains to disclose environmental impacts.

So it’s good to start getting ahead and understanding what information you may be required to disclose to your customers in the future… your competition likely are!

What can you do to understand the role your business plays in supporting the planet’s recovery and getting ahead on disclosures?

We suggest starting with answering these questions using the suggested actions: ‍

What is your current impact and where are the key areas you need to focus on?

‍We suggest using this free B Corp Impact Assessment to understand your impact baseline and areas for prioritisation. You don’t need to certify - just use the free impact assessment tool. ‍

Have you considered how activities across your supply chain impact the environment and society?  

‍We suggest using ‘the doughnut’ with your teams to start understanding the impact of your inputs, by-products, transportation methods, packaging etc.‍

How are you incorporating sustainability into the decisions you’re making everyday?

‍Over the next month, when making key business decisions start asking yourself the following type of questions and see whether doing so starts creating change.

• Do you include climate and environmental impact in your decision-making and risk management procedures?
• If yes, what weighting are they given?
• Do you include environmental requirements in your subcontractor due diligence processes?
• Are you selling products that encourage or discourage consumer over-consumption?

Start with asking these questions when making key business decisions and see if they change how you think about them.

If it all feels too difficult to do alone, the contact us hello@bemari.co.uk and we will help you in your journey toward supporting planetary recovery.

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