Assessing greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption in SMEs

This paper presents the first estimates of the OECD project “Towards a pilot dashboard of SME greening and green entrepreneurship indicators”, which is part of broader work of the OECD Committee on SMEs and Entrepreneurship (CSMEE) to support governments in making SMEs active players in the green transition. The paper first explains the rationale behind this measurement exercise, which relates to the importance of monitoring carbon emissions and energy consumption in the business sector, including SMEs, as governments strive to achieve their climate objectives. Thereafter, it gives an overview of the project methodology to produce estimates on the environmental footprint of SMEs. Finally, it presents the first estimates for the first five dashboard indicators: i) SME share of greenhouse gas emissions in the business sector; ii) SME share of energy consumption in the business sector; iii) SME greenhouse gas emissions (carbon) intensity; iv) SME energy intensity; v) SME energy price burden The paper also presents evidence on real SME electricity and gas consumption in Denmark thanks to pilot work with Statistics Denmark. A final Annex explains the project methodology in detail.