Beazley has announced it has partnered with social impact consultants Good Innovation to create a new platform, the Better Business Hub, to support UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on their sustainability journey.
The Better Business Hub will help UK small businesses to better understand ESG, sustainability and responsible business practices in order to capitalise on the business benefits these can bring.
As highlighted by Beazley’s most recent Spotlight on Business Risks report, SMEs face challenges in identifying, adopting and developing sustainable practices. The report revealed that 30% of small businesses (annual revenue £1m to £9.99m) stated that ESG risks fall within their top business risks, however over a quarter are currently unprepared to deal with ESG risk. This rises to 40% among micro businesses (annual revenue £250,000 to £999,999). The report underscored SMEs’ focus on sustainability and their concerns about its impact which, if left unaddressed, increases the exposure of ESG risks on their businesses.
The Better Business Hub directly aims to address these concerns by providing clarity and guidance on what sustainability and responsible business means for SMEs. Using an integrated “health-check” tool to answer a short questionnaire, businesses can identify where they are on their sustainability journey. The output will highlight the focus areas together with recommendations to support them in becoming a more responsible business.
The platform also provides helpful guides, resources and information to help demystify ESG and support them in becoming a sustainable and responsible business. It’s built in a way for SMEs to take quick action to realise the business value of good ESG practices.
The platform is now live and available for all SMEs to use free of charge, whether they are a Beazley policyholder or not.
Ian Fantozzi, CEO of Beazley Digital, said: “The research we undertook with SMEs around their attitude to implementing ESG strategies revealed that many find ESG jargon hard to understand, and believe that becoming more sustainable is complex and expensive. This is why we have worked with Good Innovation to create the Better Business Hub, to help demystify the world of responsible business practices and demonstrate the benefits that being a sustainable business can bring. This initiative is part of Beazley Digital’s commitment to understanding the needs of SMEs and doing the right thing by helping them to be better businesses.”
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