Where to go for advice if you want your small or medium-sized business to become more sustainability-oriented?

It has been calculated that the majority of businesses are formed by small as well as medium-sized companies. For instance, let’s take a look at Europe where 99.8% of private companies are SMEs. Although the impact of one SME might be small in scale, in United Kingdom (where SMEs constitute 99% of companies) one half of the country´s emissions is produced and emitted by such businesses.

The European Commission highlights the fact that environmental policies provide businesses with attractive opportunities, increase their competitiveness on the market, as well as boost their productivity. Moreover, in July 2014 "Green Action Plan for SMEs" was introduced to present the ways in which environmental challenges can be turned into new possibilities that the businesses can benefit from as well as to show how the European Commission together with Member States and regions tries to help small and medium-sized companies so that they could take advantage of, for instance, the circular economy or green markets.


Although you might find the arguments proposed by the European Commission convincing, it might be still difficult to make the first step towards the change. That is why we would like to introduce you to Sustainable Business Guide.

Sustainable Business Guide is a platform which serves as a well of practical knowledge for business leaders who wish to get a grasp of how to make a shift in the functioning of their businesses to comply with new ecologically-friendly norms and constitute to the process of reaching the goals included in European agendas. Moreover, the articles and content published on the platform are authored by the University of Cambridge´s Institute of Sustainable Business graduates.

Sustainable Business Guide shares insights on the reasons why small as well as medium-sized enterprises might not be willing or able to adopt sustainable practices. Such reasons might include: lack of awareness, concerning the significance of sustainability and its long-term consequences; lack of awareness of the benefits that stem from introducing greener policies; insufficient management and scarcity of information on how to start and introduce eco-friendly practices; conflict of interest and clash between sustainable initiatives and the ones that the company needs for its proper functioning and earning money.

Although, you as an employee or a manager at a SME, might be facing one of the above-mentioned problems, the specialists from Sustainable Business Guide are there for you to help you get on the right track to preserve our biosphere and keep the Earth in decent conditions for future generations. The website focuses particularly on SMEs as the authors realize the difficulties that they face on daily basis. Do not hesitate to reach the staff to ask your questions and seek advice.

For more details visit: https://sustainable-business.guide/about-us-2/


Sources:

https://ec.europa.eu/environment/sme/index_en.htm

https://sustainable-business.guide/2022/01/15/smes-are-critical-to-creating-a-sustainable-future/

https://www.switchtogreen.eu/green-action-plan-for-smes-turning-environmental-challenges-into-business-opportunities/