Top 3 Earth Day Tips for Small & Medium Enterprises
We’ve all heard it time and time again—climate change is a threat to us and our planet and we must make a difference before it’s too late. The 2023 IPCC Report from the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change drove this point home with a high confidence statement that there is a “rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all.” As we celebrate Earth Day, it is important to remember that our actions every day impact our future on this planet—as an individual, a small business owner, and a corporate citizen, we must act like it’s Earth Day every day.
Here at RyeStrategy, we focus on the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that make up value chains of larger organizations to help quantify, calculate, and mitigate emissions. In honor of Earth Day this year, we’ve put together three first steps in reducing emissions with information pulled from the recent IPCC report on how SMEs can start making a difference to reduce their own carbon footprint.
Three Focus Areas for SMEs from the 2023 IPCC Report
#1 Quantify Emissions and Set Targets
The first step is almost always the same–it is imperative to quantify your organization's carbon footprint to provide a comparative baseline. Without gathering information about where you’re starting, it is difficult to make significant change. As such, in order to effectively make data-driven decisions, allocate appropriate resources, and evaluate while monitoring progress, organizations should consider taking the first step—calculating their carbon footprint.
For SMEs, this may be either a priority of stakeholders within the organization or designated by larger organizations for which they provide services. There is an increased focus on value chains as “reducing industry emissions will entail coordinated action [through these value chains].” No matter the reason behind the quantification and subsequent reduction of emissions, it is essential that SMEs continue to take action.
#2 Create a Carbon Committee
Climate literacy or the understanding of one’s influence on the climate and society is a necessity for climate emission accountability within an organization. According to the IPCC, “including those that are informed by Indigenous knowledge and local knowledge, can accelerate behavioral changes and planning.” Creating a Carbon Committee will allow for stakeholders to create targeted education campaigns focused on the inner workings of the organization in an effort to increase accountability, resulting in carbon emissions reductions.
A Carbon Committee can help create mitigation strategies customizable to the makeup of the organization since the focus is on priorities of staff and their individual lifestyle. For example, promoting a “walking to work” scheme is a lifestyle change that can make a difference to an organization's carbon footprint.
#3 Invest in the Environment to Mitigate Emissions
Low-emission technologies, such as solar, wind, and lithium-ion batteries, have fallen consistently since 2010 due to design and process innovations. This decrease in cost has also been seen within electric vehicle prices as the cost of the technology within them is starting to decrease and their adoption within the market is accelerating. Electric vehicles offer the largest decarbonization potential for ground transportation and could drastically reduce your organization’s carbon footprint in this segment of emissions.
Along with investing in technology, the market for green bonds, ESG (environmental, social and governance), and sustainable finance products have expanded significantly. Utilizing financial channels to fund green initiatives will further the market to ensure that sustainability is at the forefront of emerging markets, especially since investors, central banks, and financial regulators are also driving awareness of climate risk to support climate policy development and implementation.
As the IPCC continues to release additional research, we at RyeStrategy will continue to educate on how the findings impact SMEs and how they can make a difference. Interested in learning more about how RyeStategy can help your SME? Check out our Carbon Neutrality 101 guide, and introductory series that covers the essential topics.
Source: IPCC Climate Change Report 2023
About RyeStrategy
Based in Seattle, RyeStrategy is a CDP-accredited, mission-oriented company specialized in carbon accounting, mitigation coaching, and climate disclosure solutions for organizations at any point in their sustainability journey. Learn how RyeStrategy helped Salesforce, Ideascale, and Wazoku achieve their sustainability goals.
From exhaustive carbon footprinting and mitigation coaching, to setting science-based targets and reporting climate data to CDP, SBTi or custom reporting platforms, RyeStrategy acts as a hands-on extension of the team, custom-tailoring services to fulfill climate disclosure requirements easily and accurately.
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