14.01.2025
International
Decarbonization requires considerable effort on the part of the economy - and costs a lot of money. A new guide is now helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular to tackle the transition and its financing.
For SMEs in particular, decarbonization, i.e. switching their business operations to significantly less carbon, is a major challenge. On the one hand, their own path towards net zero emissions needs to be well planned in terms of content, while at the same time it must be able to form the basis for viable investment and financing planning.
In order to provide support here, the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), the Association of German Public Banks (VÖB) and the DIHK Service GmbH's Climate Protection Network (UNK) have developed an SME guide to drawing up a transition and financing plan together with their members. With its help, companies can prepare for the dialogue with banks on financing investments in climate protection. The target group are SMEs that are not directly obliged to report on sustainability but are concerned with their decarbonisation, or whose business partners, customers and financial institutions require sustainability information.
Biggest hurdles: Uncertainty and complexity
The new guide was created by DIHK, VÖB, UNK and pilot companies from the field as part of a three-month project. The numerous challenges faced by SMEs in transition planning also became clear. These include the many uncertainties on the road to climate neutrality by 2045: there is no planning certainty with regard to the availability of the necessary technologies, the market environment or the regulatory framework. In addition, the topic of reducing emissions is methodologically very demanding, and the specifications of existing standards and methodologies are not tailored to SMEs.
This is where the guide “From transition to financing plan” comes in. With background information, definitions, checklists and practical tips, it offers smaller companies an overview of the requirements and guides them step by step through the necessary processes.
The publication can be downloaded free of charge from the UNK website at www.klima-plattform.de.
Featured photo: DIHK/Trang VU