Almost two-thirds (63%) of SMEs do not have a sustainability plan in place despite green goals rising further up the business agenda, finds new research launched to mark Earth Day 2023.

Small business owners have a Net Zero knowledge gap which must be closed if the UK is to meet its 2050 Net Zero pledges. More than half of SMEs (59%) are unclear on what is required to reach Net Zero despite 99% of the UK business community being made up of small businesses.

One in six (14%) of SME-owners say a lack of knowledge is preventing them from progressing the sustainability of their business. The Road to Net Zero research was commissioned by, myCSO, a SaaS platform created as an accessible solution for SMEs to monitor and manage their sustainability progress.

Earth Day is a global awareness event which has been celebrated since 1970, and sees billions of individuals worldwide come together each year on April 22 to take action towards a greener, more sustainable and equitable future for the planet.

Despite more than 50 years of awareness raising, many small businesses still trail behind in adopting greener practices.

Half of SMEs (50%) said a lack of funds was stopping them from becoming a more sustainable business, and one-in-three (33%) felt a lack of time means their Net Zero plans are not advancing.

Ravi Chidambaram, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Rimm Sustainability, said: “Without significant change the UK and the rest of the world will not meet Net Zero targets. We cannot afford for this to happen, and we have a collective responsibility to change our fortunes while there is still time. We must find ways to stop time and money being limiting factors to reaching our green goals. To make starting and understanding sustainability, ESG and the road to Net Zero easier we have created a single platform which small businesses can use in the place of a Chief Sustainability Officer.”

The lack of requirement by customers or suppliers, who do not ask or care about sustainability credentials meant 43% of SMEs hadn’t sought out more sustainable practices. Almost a quarter of SMEs say they have no plans to become greener as it isn’t a legal requirement, highlighting more could be done by the government to encourage sustainability.

Ravi continued: “A united approach to improving practices means business that do not adopt greener processes are left behind. The longer some customers, suppliers, and partners do not require those that they do business with to take responsibility for the environment, the longer achieving our collective Net Zero mission will take. To help the UK reach its 2030 and 2050 targets the government may have to step in with tougher regulation and guidance.”

Discussing the myCSO product, Ravi said: “We have worked extensively with sustainability teams at large and small companies all over the world to create a comprehensive suite of tools that will support businesses in all industries measure, benchmark and move towards a sustainable future. We have considered everything from functionality, simplicity, productivity, and cost when putting the platform together, and we believe that myCSO can make a genuine and immediate impact to the sustainability efforts of the UK’s 5.5 million SMEs.”

myCSO is already used by a number of businesses across the UK and world, including Ideation 3X, TCS John Huxley, Amansa Capital, Menicon, WOH HUP, Marsh McLennan, Frost and Sullivan, TUV SUD, BoardRoom, and plans to add thousands more users over the coming months.