London environmental organisation supports SMEs reach net-zero targets with new initiative

CDP has launched a new climate disclosure framework, in collaboration with the SME Climate Hub, and created in partnership with the Exponential Roadmap Initiative and Normative.

The purpose of this framework is to “empower small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to make strategic and impactful climate commitments, track and report progress against those commitments, and demonstrate climate leadership”.

With supply chain emissions being 11.4 times higher than operational emissions, many large companies want their suppliers, often SMEs, to measure, report and cut down their own emissions, cascading climate action down the supply chain.

This has wide economic and societal impacts as SMEs play a major role in most economies worldwide; globally, they represent about 90 per cent of businesses and more than 50 per cent of employment worldwide.

The new, open SME Climate Disclosure Framework is built upon CDP’s expansive experience working with corporations, including over 1,800 disclosing SMEs ranging 50+ countries, and is intended to be simple, flexible, easy to understand and accessible to all.

Sonya Bhonsle, CDP’s global head of value chains and regional director of corporations, commented: “SMEs play a major role in economies around the world; without them, we cannot limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C.”

María Mendiluce, CEO of We Mean Business Coalition, a co-founding partner of the SME Climate Hub, said: “Over 3,000 companies have joined the SME Climate Hub, committing to cut carbon emissions in half by 2030 and reach net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner.

“With scalable, accessible tools like the CDP reporting framework, these businesses can move from commitment to action, and effectively track progress to meeting our collective ambition.”

Johan Falk, CEO of Exponential Roadmap Initiative, and a co-founding partner of the SME Climate Hub, said: “SMEs need to be able to report progress on climate action to gain a competitive business advantage.”