Helping Small and Medium Businesses Go Low Carbon 2018
What initiatives, products, services or tools can help Ontario’s small and medium-sized businesses thrive while reducing their emissions?
Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), employing 1-499 people, are the core of the economy in the Province of Ontario, Canada, and will be critical to the low-carbon economy of the future. However, SMEs face many barriers to taking action to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, such as the cost of inputs – particularly electricity, unpredictable revenue streams, tight margins, time pressures, and capacity gaps.
Tailored solutions and strategies are needed to better assist Ontario’s SMEs in the transition to a low-carbon economy. This contest seeks to solicit a broad range of possible solutions to help SMEs reduce their direct and indirect GHG emissions while helping them thrive (e.g., by growing, increasing profitability, improving employee retention, etc.).
*Note: Due to recent political events, Province of Ontario’s cap & trade program was ended— the proceeds of which went to funding these kinds of emissions reduction programs. As a result, the Centre for Social Innovation will likely no longer be able to provide financial support to the winners, but putting a spotlight on these solutions and supporting them in other ways has become all the more important. The winning solutions will be promoted and celebrated widely, and receive free one-year memberships at Climate Ventures, the Centre for Social Innovation’s climate solutions incubator in Toronto.
