Over the past few months, we’ve been working with a group of small and medium-sized businesses testing a new approach to understanding and improving their relationship with nature.
What’s emerging is a clear message: SMEs genuinely want to take action for nature — but they need clarity, credibility, and a framework that fits their scale.
Key Insights
When the process is practical, plain-spoken, and rooted in their own operations, something clicks. Business owners begin to see nature not as a CSR add-on, but as part of how they create value and manage risk.
Across participants, three patterns stood out:
1. Clarity unlocks confidence. When complex biodiversity ideas are translated into simple, relevant language — “why this matters” and “what good looks like” — people lean in rather than tune out.
2. Proportionate expectations sustain engagement. When actions are framed as achievable, not aspirational, even time-poor SMEs start making real changes — from small site-level improvements to reviewing how they source materials or engage suppliers.
3. Collaboration multiplies impact. Many small businesses want to be part of something bigger — whether that’s joint recognition schemes with their suppliers, shared tracking and learning, or collective contributions to local nature projects. Acting together makes their efforts more visible, credible, and motivating.
The Bigger Picture
These early findings hint at something powerful: SMEs represent the untapped majority of nature-positive potential. They’re ready to move — but only if we make the path visible, remove administrative barriers, and celebrate genuine progress over polished reporting.
As frameworks evolve under the Global Biodiversity Framework, CSRD/VSME, and TNFD, it’s vital that smaller businesses aren’t left behind. Simpler doesn’t mean superficial; it means accessible, consistent, and behaviour-shifting.
This work is showing that when we meet SMEs where they are — with practical steps, plain language, and proportionate asks — they move further and faster than anyone expects.
