Whilst the market is full of general guidance for reaching net zero goals for businesses of any size, it can often be harder to achieve for a smaller business without the budget to enact huge change and without the general working capacity to have appointed individuals to lead the project either – there’s a lot of help out there for net zero consultancy from different business partners, but also plenty of advice to tackle net zero as a small business – so which steps need to be taken, and how can small businesses take the change in stride?
Identifying the different net zero scopes – In order to make change, it’s important to know where to look and by separating targets into three different scopes, it makes the challenge much more manageable. Scope 1 changes should be looking at anything the business as an entity can do to make change – whether this be changing a working process, updating procedure, or anything internally that could be contributing to emissions. Scope 2 should be looking externally at suppliers – these indirect emissions can be resolved or reduced by changing the type of energy supplier used by changing to a renewable source or by adjusting to an eco-friendlier supplier. Scope 3, where relevant, looks at the value chain of the company from suppliers, to distributors etc and often the most difficult to make change – if the business relies on a specific part which only comes from an individual supplier it may be tough to make change, but if there are options available for different suppliers, then changing to a greener option fits under this scope.
Use tools where available – Whilst expert help will always be the most valuable, it isn’t always the most affordable option particularly for small businesses which may only have a limited budget and this is where different online tools can play a role in the change. Options like the Net Zero Pathway tool are great for identifying and streamlining where change can be found and as the push for net zero continues to grow the number of tools available online to help business make the change will grow – due diligence is still very important here though, as not all tools will offer the best recommendations.
Get the team on board – Making any sort of change is always going to be more difficult if there’s any friction without the team that could slow process, by offering different incentives and seeking out the different government schemes that look to empower the net zero change, it will make the process of adjusting that much easier too – with the whole team on board, changes can be implemented swiftly without disruption, and there will be a greater level of understanding and acceptance to why certain changes are being made too.
Pressure is certainly mounting for small businesses to rise up and tackle net zero in their own way, and it doesn’t need to be a difficult transition either as tips and tools are becoming more readily available to help smaller businesses achieve this goal.
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