Project DNA (Dashboard for Net-Zero Action)

SMEs often lack the time, skills and knowledge to achieve their climate ambitions. For SMEs struggling with rising costs today, moving towards net zero looks capital intensive and risky.

There are a variety of carbon accounting tools that help smaller businesses avoid suppliers with higher carbon emissions in their supply chains. A business that can act to reduce their own emissions can expect to improve their value proposition and would be more likely to win business as supply chains change. Yet there are currently very few options for smaller businesses looking to understand and reduce the carbon emissions from their own vehicles, operations and buildings.

The Go for Zero tool is an online dashboard with automated but individual recommendations on everything from EV fleets and charging to installing solar, all at the click of a button. It uses mobility and energy data to provide SMEs with tailored payback calculations on these capital intensive technologies.

According to behaviour change experts, organisations can reduce their energy use by around 25% through technical fixes and new technologies, but the actions of people can double this impact. The project will, in particular, look at how energy data can be harnessed to empower SME leaders, engage employees and communicate progress on Net Zero goals.

Project Dashboard for Net-Zero Action (DNA) will seek to improve the way data and recommendations are communicated to users, using behavioural insights and by adding granular open energy data that can put the right information in an SME's hands so that they can take action and demonstrate progress. The aim is to design a data-rich but human-centred tool that helps find the best combination of net zero technologies for a business and engages a whole organisation in the roadmap to Net Zero.

Project DNA's findings on SME behaviour, attitudes to flexibility, cleantech choices and optimised financial return could assist wider understandings of how SMEs will interact best with Net Zero.

The improved Go for Zero tool has the potential to help not only SMEs, but also to reduce barriers for utilities, banks and other bodies looking to accelerate their customers towards net zero. These organisations have a key role in delivering Net Zero for businesses and the Go for Zero dashboard can help with data and analysis to accelerate the financing of net zero action.