How Horizonscan Integrates Climate Action Into Business Operations as an SME
Horizonscan, a UK business continuity and resilience consultancy, is advancing its net zero ambitions through a strategic partnership with Climate Impact Partners. With 99% businesses in the UK operating in the SMEs bracket, Horizonscan’s partnership shows how smaller businesses can integrate climate action into their core operations, using climate action as a positive differentiator within the SME bracket, rather than wait for regulatory influence.
The Ambition
As a 15-person, employee-owned SME advising clients on resilience solutions, Horizonscan leads by example in the professional services sector by setting an ambitious target to achieve net zero by 2040. This commitment was established through the SME Climate Hub, a global non-profit initiative that empowers small to medium sized companies to take climate action in the UK.
Key Climate Goals:
- Achieve CarbonNeutral® company certification
- Full measurement and reduction pathway across all Scopes, while continuing to grow the business
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining growth
- Net zero by 2040
The Challenge
Horizonscan needed a climate action program that balances affordability, credibility and operational alignment. As a consultancy advising clients on all types of business risks – from supply chain disruption to crisis management - the company wanted its climate commitments and action to reflect both its operational advancements, and the sustainability values it promotes to clients. Part of this has been addressing emissions reductions in complex Scope 3 categories, namely business travel, and supplier partner emissions. Any climate claims also had to reflect the authenticity of the business: grounded in its consultancy expertise, reflective of operational ambitions, with a portfolio shaped by a democratic decision-making across carbon projects.
Local communities are trained on reforestation and protection techniques.
Teams measure trees to monitor growth.
Students in Guatemala benefiting from safe drinking water through the Ecofiltro project.
Through the Ecofiltro project, women and families in Guatemala gain access to safe drinking water, delivering lasting health, social, and environmental benefits.
The Action
Following full operational measurement, Horizonscan certified as CarbonNeutral® company, following a full emissions reduction pathway beyond the typical requirements of any SME business. As part of tackling residual emissions, Climate Impact Partners supported Horzionscan in developing a balanced carbon portfolio around.
- High-integrity carbon projects, spanning clean water and household energy initiatives, alongside forest rehabilitation and conservation in Malaysia.
- Alignment with Horizonscan's expertise, focusing the portfolio on risk management, resilience, and climate adaptation, so its climate action reflects the business’ expertise and values.
- Company-wide employee engagement, giving the entire team ownership in selecting projects from a curated shortlist – reinforcing Horizonscan’s employee-owned culture.
How Horizonscan Makes the Business Case for Climate Action
As an SME without a dedicated sustainability department, measuring emissions credibly, understanding certification requirements and developing an appropriate carbon portfolio could not simply become another task absorbed alongside client work. Horizonscan needed an approach proportionate to its scale without compromising credibility. Climate Impact Partners worked with Horizonscan to turn its ambitions into a practical programme that the business, clients and stakeholders could understand, support and stand behind.
The Impact
Horizonscan's carbon portfolio is composed so that each project delivers distinct benefits:
- Ecofiltro Clean Water and Cooking is a clean water project in Guatemala that provides locally manufactured water filters to rural households and schools, reducing the need to boil water with firewood. Beyond verified emissions reductions, the project delivers significant social benefits. More than one million children now have access to safe drinking water, and over 30,000 classroom water filters have contributed to around 50% fewer illness-related absences in participating schools. The project also advances women's economic empowerment, with women representing 50% of distributors and two out of five management positions. Find out more about the project here.
- Sabah INFRAPO Rainforest Rehabilitation project restores and protects 25,000 hectares of degraded rainforest in Malaysian Borneo. Through reforestation, enrichment planting, and the prevention of further logging, the project delivers verified carbon removals while conserving one of the world's most biodiverse ecosystems, home to 300+ bird species, 120+ mammal species, and 15,000+ plant species, as well as orangutans, pygmy elephants, and red langurs. It is one of the highest-rated nature-based removal projects globally, with an A rating from BeZero – placing it in the top 6% of all rated IFM projects, and a rare source of large-scale carbon removals in Asia-Pacific. Find out more about the project here.
What Horizonscan Says
“As a resilience business, we spend a lot of our time helping clients think beyond tomorrow, understanding what could be coming over the horizon and making decisions today that will help them remain resilient over the long term. We think we should hold ourselves to the same standard. It would be easy to say a business of our size is too small to make a difference and leave the heavy lifting to somebody else. But SMEs represent 99% of UK businesses, so collectively the choices we make really do matter."
"Climate Impact Partners understood the realities of being an SME and helped us turn our intent into something practical, proportionate and credible. And we’re not pretending the job is finished. Travel remains one of our hardest challenges and something we have to keep working at. Supporting high-quality carbon projects is part of our approach, but so is changing how we actually operate.”- Shane McMahon, Head of Consultancy, Horizonscan Limited
Why This Matters
Horizonscan’s experience demonstrates that credible climate action does not have to begin with regulation, a large sustainability department or a major corporate budget. This partnership shows how SMEs can integrate climate action as part of corporate operational strategy, boosting differentiation, employee and partner engagement. By closely following the principle of resilience, this programme helps balance improved operational decision-making, as well as building a stronger business for the long-term, without compromising on authenticity or business impact.
