There are countless opportunities for businesses to contribute to the solution of complex sustainability problems. Unfortunately, sustainability business risks are also shifting and growing.

Businesses are expected to navigate the rapidly changing sustainability landscape. Customers, shareholders, employees, and governments ask businesses to demonstrate their sustainable practices while accusations of greenwashing and greenhushing abound (Bullard, 2024, p. 82). Polarization and politicization of sustainability has left businesses at a loss regarding how to proceed, particularly those businesses without a team of experts at hand in topics such as greenhouse gas management, Indigenous reconciliation, and diversity, equity, and inclusion, to name a few. Increasing legislation, along with emboldened customers and non-governmental organizations, is leading to increased risk of fines, legal action, and reputational damage. Increased risk is found both with reporting, and with not reporting, sustainability metrics.

What role do small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play in this demanding world of sustainability? SMEs with 1 to 499 employees represent 99.8% of businesses in Alberta and Saskatchewan (GOC, 2024). They provide jobs for over 90% of private-sector employees in these two prairie provinces. Canada-wide, SMEs are responsible for 53% of gross domestic product (GDP) generated. Clearly, SMEs have a significant role to play in supporting local, provincial, and Canadian economies, societies, and ecosystems. They also have the ability to significantly impact their value-chain partners, including large enterprises and industry associations. Yet SMEs are less likely to have affordable or in-house access to sustainability experts to help them navigate the ever-evolving landscape of risk and opportunities.

The economy, society, and our ecosystems are at stake. Embedding sustainability throughout the business landscape is necessary to fully take advantage of opportunities and ameliorate risk. Who better to do this than SMEs? The agility, creativity, tenacity, and sheer volume of SMEs can move the dial if we can solve the problem of access to affordable expertise. Who better to identify how the problem can be solved than SMEs themselves? And who better to support the SMEs than those who rely on them: their value-chain partners – large enterprises and industry associations.

The following market analysis, prepared by Trace Associates Inc., is intended for corporations with SMEs in their value chain. If you have SMEs as critical supply-chain partners or long-term clients, this whitepaper is for you.

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