STOCKHOLM — On March 17, Normative, a global carbon accounting platform, launched its Business Carbon Calculator with help from Google.org, Google’s philanthropy program. The calculator allows small- to medium-sized businesses to track and reduce their carbon emissions.

The Normative Business Carbon Calculator is available for free through SME Climate Hub, a program that offers tools and resources to help small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) track their environmental impact. The carbon calculator allows SMEs to measure emissions and identify emission hotspots, allowing companies to halve their emissions by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, following the Paris-aligned climate targets, which is determined to limit worldwide temperature rise by 1.5 C (34.7 F).

According to Normative, SMEs make up 90% of businesses worldwide, and most have a hand in developing products for larger corporations. Scope 3 emissions, or corporate value chain emissions, are estimated to account for up to 90% of a business’s total emissions, according to Normative.

The lack of resources for SMEs prompted Normative to develop the Business Carbon Calculator. According to a survey by SME Climate Hub, 63% of SMEs claimed they did not feel that they had the right skills to take climate action.

“We need to act now,” said Kristian Rönn, co-founder and chief executive officer, Normative. “The climate will not wait for us to be ready. We want to make measuring carbon emissions and joining the race to net-zero accessible to everyone. This new tool is our second step towards engaging value chains across the world, and we will continue to develop and push our technology to help businesses take climate action.”

With the Normative Business Carbon Calculator, companies can input data, including facility size, spend on electricity, heating and gas, into a form, which will calculate the company’s baseline for carbon emissions. After receiving the baseline, companies will receive education on actions they can take through SME Climate Hub’s tools and resources.

According to Normative, there are many business benefits for investing in the tracking and reducing of emissions, including increased efficiency, reduced operating costs and business risk, brand benefits and improved access to future capital.

“Businesses of all sizes are increasingly recognizing that being kind to the planet is essential for business success,” said Matt Brittin, president, Google EMEA operations. “But for small and medium sized businesses, identifying where emissions come from — and how to reduce them — can come with unique challenges. Normative’s work to solve this with their new, free carbon calculator specifically designed for SMEs is exciting – and we’re proud to be working with them.”

Google.org selected Normative for its fellowship, providing the company with a €1 million ($1.1 million) grant to develop the calculator.

“Small businesses have a substantial opportunity to build more resilient business foundations through climate action,” said María Mendiluce, chief executive officer, We Mean Business Coalition, a founding partner of the SME Climate Hub. “It’s imperative businesses of all sizes are provided with the tools necessary to prioritize emissions reduction. We are proud the SME Climate Hub can help bridge this resource gap through tools like the Normative Business Carbon Calculator.”

The Normative Business Carbon Calculator is available at Normative.io.

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