Sustainable business is now visible in both operational decisions and formal accountability. In 2024, 93% of European Union small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) reported at least one resource-efficiency measure, while companies representing 91% of global market capitalisation disclosed sustainability information. The figures show broad momentum, but they also reveal gaps in planning, emissions coverage, assurance and finance.
Contents
- Why SMEs matter to sustainable business
- How businesses are implementing resource efficiency
- What business leaders say about sustainability
- How widely companies disclose sustainability information
- Emissions oversight, assurance and stakeholder accountability
- Sustainable finance and the transition challenge for SMEs
Why SMEs matter to sustainable business
SMEs are central to any practical sustainability strategy because they make up most businesses and employ a large share of the workforce. The European Union had nearly 26 million SMEs in 2024. Together, they employed around 90 million people and generated more than half of Europe’s GDP, according to the European Commission’s Eurobarometer survey on resource efficiency.
Eurostat’s 2022 business-economy figures show how concentrated the enterprise population is among smaller firms. Micro and small enterprises represented 99% of EU enterprises, or 31.7 million businesses. They employed 78.8 million people, equal to 49% of employment in enterprises, and generated €12.2 trillion in net turnover, or 32% of the total. These figures are reported in Large businesses generated half of EU’s net turnover.
Medium-sized enterprises were only 0.8% of EU enterprises in 2022, about 247,000 businesses, but employed 24.6 million people. Their net turnover was about €6.8 trillion, or 18% of the total. Large enterprises represented just 0.2% of enterprises, about 53,000 businesses, while employing 56.5 million people, or 35% of the workforce. They generated €19.2 trillion in net turnover, equal to half of the business-economy total.
| EU enterprise group | Share or count of enterprises | Employment | Net turnover |
|---|---|---|---|
| Micro and small, 2022 | 99%; 31.7 million | 78.8 million; 49% | €12.2 trillion; 32% |
| Medium-sized, 2022 | 0.8%; about 247,000 | 24.6 million | €6.8 trillion; 18% |
| Large, 2022 | 0.2%; about 53,000 | 56.5 million; 35% | €19.2 trillion; 50% |
For leaders, the implication is straightforward: sustainability cannot be limited to the largest companies’ reporting teams. Smaller firms account for a substantial share of jobs, turnover and business activity, so their purchasing decisions, energy use, waste practices and supplier relationships affect the wider transition.
How businesses are implementing resource efficiency
The European Commission’s 2024 Eurobarometer found that 93% of EU SMEs were implementing at least one resource-efficiency measure, such as saving energy, minimising waste or recycling. Yet the depth of action varied. Only 25% had developed a strategy to reduce their carbon footprint or achieve climate neutrality. Twelve percent generated renewable energy onsite, while 23% purchased energy from a renewable-energy supplier.
The same survey identified practical barriers. Thirty-five percent of EU SMEs pointed to complex administrative or legal procedures as a challenge to resource-efficiency measures, and 28% identified high costs. These results suggest that adoption is widespread, but formal transition planning and investment remain harder than taking individual operational steps.
The earlier European Commission Eurobarometer on EU SMEs working towards sustainability recorded a similar pattern in 2022. Eighty-nine percent of SMEs had taken at least one surveyed action to become more resource-efficient, including renewable-energy use, recycling or waste minimisation. Twenty-four percent had a concrete plan to reduce their business carbon footprint, and 32% had green products in their product range.
Support preferences also point to the importance of implementation conditions. Thirty-six percent of EU SMEs said grants or subsidies would most help their resource efficiency. Twenty-six percent selected better cross-sector cooperation to reuse waste and by-products. For business leaders, these figures connect sustainability with procurement, local partnerships and access to capital—not only with internal policy statements.
What business leaders say about sustainability
The 2022 CEO study summarized in the UN Global Compact’s The path to resilience, growth and sustainability by 2030 describes sustainability as a leadership responsibility during a period of overlapping pressures. Ninety-three percent of surveyed CEOs experienced 10 or more simultaneous challenges for their businesses, and 87% warned that current adversity would limit progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals.
At the same time, 98% of surveyed CEOs agreed that sustainability is central to their role. That share had risen by 15 percentage points over the prior decade. The combination of high pressure and high stated responsibility matters: it suggests that sustainability is being treated as part of strategy and resilience, even when external conditions make execution more difficult.
Geopolitics was one such constraint. Forty-three percent of surveyed CEOs said geopolitical conditions had hampered their sustainability efforts. The share was 51% among CEOs in developing countries. Even so, 66% said their companies were engaging in long-term strategic partnerships to increase resilience.
Reported business responses included launching sustainability-focused products and services, improving data and investing in energy. Sixty-three percent of surveyed CEOs said their companies were launching sustainability-focused products and services. Fifty-five percent said they were improving sustainability data collection across value chains, and 49% said they were investing in renewable-energy sources. These actions link leadership priorities to measurable changes in products, partnerships, information systems and capital allocation.
How widely companies disclose sustainability information
The OECD’s Global Corporate Sustainability Report 2025 found that companies representing 91% of global market capitalisation disclosed sustainability information in 2024, up from 86% in 2022. By company count, 12,900 listed companies disclosed information out of 44,152 listed companies worldwide. The market-capitalisation result therefore describes the reach of reporting among large listed companies, not universal coverage across all businesses.
State-owned enterprises had a 63% sustainability-disclosure rate by company count and 95% by market capitalisation. Across industries, disclosure covered between 78% and 94% of global market capitalisation. Real-estate companies were at the lower end, with disclosure covering 78% of sector market capitalisation, while energy companies were at the highest reported level, at 94%.
Different reporting frameworks appeared at different scales in 2024. Five hundred eighty-two companies reported partial alignment with or compliance with ISSB standards. A total of 4,857 companies used the TCFD recommendations, and 3,497 used SASB Standards. More than 6,500 companies used the GRI Standards. The OECD report expected at least 1,800 EU-listed companies to fall under ESRS requirements starting in 2025, and expected ESRS to apply to approximately 2,000 companies by the end of 2025. Those 2025 figures are forecasts or expectations reported by the OECD, not retrospective counts.
For smaller companies, the reporting environment is shaped by larger customers, lenders and investors. Even where an SME is not directly subject to a reporting requirement, requests for emissions, workforce or supply-chain information can travel through commercial relationships.
Emissions oversight, assurance and stakeholder accountability
Disclosure rates are higher for some emissions information than for complete value-chain measurement. In 2024, 11,135 companies disclosed Scope 1 and 2 emissions, representing 88% of global market capitalisation. Estimated Scope 1 and 2 data covered 16,000 companies representing 95% of global market capitalisation. For Scope 3, 7,712 companies disclosed at least one emissions category, representing 76% of global market capitalisation, while estimated Scope 3 data covered nearly 15,900 companies representing 94%.
The distinction between disclosed and estimated data is important when interpreting sustainability statistics. Reported figures reflect information companies provided, whereas estimated coverage extends the analysis to companies for which data was modelled or otherwise estimated. The two should not be treated as equivalent evidence of measurement quality.
External assurance also expanded. Third-party assurance coverage rose from 66% to 81% of global market capitalisation between 2022 and 2024. In 2024, limited assurance covered 56% of global market capitalisation, compared with 17% for reasonable assurance. Coverage varied by market: assurance covered 19% of companies and 51% of market capitalisation in China, compared with 39% of companies and 83% of market capitalisation in the United States.
Board oversight increased as well. Companies representing 70% of global market capitalisation reported that their boards oversee climate-related issues in 2024, up from 53% in 2022. More than 9,600 companies, representing 86% of global market capitalisation, disclosed shareholder-engagement policies. However, companies representing only 11% of global market capitalisation had employee representatives on their boards, and companies representing 26% reported salient human-rights impacts in their operations and supply chains.
Sustainable finance and the transition challenge for SMEs
The OECD’s Fostering convergence in SME sustainability reporting reports that SMEs account for over 90% of businesses globally and about 40% of business-sector greenhouse-gas emissions in EU countries. Using the cited estimate from the International Trade Centre, the report places SMEs’ share of business-sector greenhouse-gas emissions globally at about 50%. These are estimates cited in a 2025 report, and the geographic scopes differ.
Capital is available at significant scale. Sustainable-investing assets amounted to about US$30 trillion globally based on the report’s latest cited 2023–2024 estimate. Green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked bond issuance totalled US$939 billion in 2023. The existence of large sustainable-finance markets does not mean that funding is equally accessible to smaller firms.
The OECD’s 2023 survey of financial institutions found that 68% were integrating climate considerations into institutional objectives and plans. Sixty-six percent were assessing some or all financing or investment opportunities using climate considerations. Seventy-two percent offered dedicated financing programmes or more advantageous conditions for green investments, while 69% provided medium- or long-term loans for SME net-zero or greening investments.
Data requirements are becoming part of that financing relationship. More than 70% of surveyed financial institutions were already asking SME clients for sustainability-related data. For an SME leader, the practical priority is therefore to connect operational action with usable evidence: energy and emissions records, resource-efficiency projects, product information and credible transition plans. The statistics show why that capability matters: smaller firms are numerous and economically significant, while lenders and larger business partners increasingly need comparable sustainability information.