Small Business Sustainability Resources
Sustainability is no longer a choice, but an imperative for small businesses. Small business owners are joining a movement to comply with evolving sustainability regulations, and COSE is here to support you every step of the way. This guide is a one-stop shop for sustainability-focused questions.
Topics include: data collection software and tools, sustainability educational resources, consultants, grants and loans, waste management and much more.
To learn more about sustainability through local businesses, check out our Sustainability for Busine$$ video series.
Sustainability for Busine$$ Video Series Playlist
Small Business Sustainability Resources
Workiva ESG Program
This simplifies the ESG reporting and compliance process by offering an easy-to-use platform that integrates sustainability and financial data.
Sales Force Net Zero Cloud
This helps small businesses set sustainability goals, track carbon emissions, and create reports within a scalable system.
Persefoni
This makes carbon accounting accessible for small businesses as it offers tools to calculate, manage, and disclose their carbon footprint in alignment with global standards.
Department of Energy Software Tools
This includes energy systems analysis, carbon, waste, and water management tools, along with tutorials and guides.
CoolSet
This is a software tool that is aligned with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards. Offers an integrated double materiality assessment and scope 1-3 GHG assessments and reductions. Best for small to medium enterprises and mid-market companies.
Greenly
This is a software tool for companies of all sizes. Measures scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions with additional features such as building an emission plan and facilitating carbon offsetting projects.
Sphera
This is a software tool that is best for companies with complex supply chains i.e., manufacturing, chemicals, and consumer goods.
International Energy Agency Emissions Factors
This is an emissions factors database that includes several indicators related to emissions from electricity and heat generation. They offer single and multi-user licenses for purchase directly online.
Product Footprint Software | Ecochain Mobius
This platform emphasizes measuring and managing the environmental impacts of products throughout the entire lifecycle with a focus on operational insights.
Environmental Specialists, Inc.
Handles material management and smaller-scale compliance with a focus on cost-effective solutions.
The EA Group
Provides EHS services for organizations looking to meet basic compliance standards.
JCP Services
Offers environmental services that focus on smaller scale remediation projects and compliance.
Blue CSR Strategies
Geared towards corporate social responsibility and other sustainability strategies. Caters to businesses seeking to begin or redefine their sustainability practices.
Sustainable Value Partners
Helps companies to develop cost effective sustainability strategies and measurable ROI.
Hubay Dougherty
Hubay Dougherty is the solution for your clean energy, environmental, and nonprofit legal needs, serving as legal advisors and general counsel in the practice areas of clean energy and environmental law.
EPA GHG Emission Factors Hub
This is a hub with a set of default emission factors for organizational greenhouse gas reporting.
Greenhouse Gas Protocol
This is the world’s most widely used GHG accounting standards. They provide standards, guidance, tools, and training for businesses and governments to measure and manage emissions.
Science Based Targets
These targets provide companies with a clear path to reduce emissions in line with the Paris Agreement goals.
FTC Green Guides
This resource helps marketers ensure that the claims they make about the environmental attributes of their products are truthful and non-deceptive.
InvestHER Strategies ESG Essentials – JumpStart Diversity Worksheet
This is simple Excel template that allows you to track and analyze various aspects of Social and Governance within ESG.
Rust Belt Riders
This company offers commercial and residential composting services.
EPA Waste Reduction Model (WARM)
This tool allows you to make high-level comparisons of potential GHG reductions, energy savings, and economic impacts when considering different materials management practices.
EPA Individual Waste Reduction Model (iWARM) Tool
This tool is the same as WARM but allows you to use it on an individual level rather than at an organizational level.
EPA Recycled Content (ReCon) Tool
This is a tool that allows either an individual or company to estimate their climate footprint across the full lifecycle of purchasing/manufacturing materials with varying degrees of post-consumer recycled content.
EPA Model Recycling Program Toolkit
This is an interactive repository of EPA and other materials. This is geared to help states, territories, local governments, tribes, nonprofits, companies, and public/private partnerships to help with programs related to recycling, composting, anaerobic digestion, reuse, repair, and waste reduction.
Ohio Materials Marketplace
This is a marketplace to buy/sell materials locally and know what’s reusable near you.
Terracycle
This offers free programs and recycling solutions available for purchase.
Busch Systems Resource Center
This system offers many different waste disposal product lines, including ones made from post-consumer recycled content.
Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District Resources
This is a link to all the helpful resources that the Cuyahoga County Solid waste district offers.
ENERGY STAR Resources for Buildings and Plants
This guide offers additional resources for commercial building energy efficiency; one example is Benchmark that helps you rate their building’s energy performance.
NOPEC; North East Ohio Public Energy Council
This is a governmental energy aggregator in Ohio that uses the bulk buying power of over 240 member communities to negotiate rates, terms, and conditions only available to members.
CleanLife Energy
This company offers LED lighting, fixtures, power supplies, smart homes, and custom solutions.
World Kinect Energy Efficiency Services
These services all work to help strategize effective energy efficiency initiatives, including site-level auditing and consulting, enterprise-level programs, turn-key project implementation and management, and tracking ROI within a decarbonization plan.
ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager
This is an interactive resource management tool that enables you to benchmark the energy use of any type of building in a secure online environment.
Sanalife Energy Management Platform
This platform allows for monitoring of energy usage, complies with regulations, and offers annual reports on energy and environmental performance.
Energy Modeling Guide
This is an E-book that helps in the development of energy models.
CWRU Industrial Assessment Center
This center allows for an in-depth assessment of a plant site showing energy efficiency improvements, waste minimization, pollution prevention, and productivity improvement.
ENERGY STAR Product Finder
This resource connects you to office and data center equipment, building products, heating and cooling systems, water heaters, feed service equipment, and EV chargers that are all Energy Star approved.
InvestHER Strategies ESG Essentials Utility Tracking 2024
This is an Excel template that allows you to easily track your utility.
Green Options
This company offers solar energy systems and LED Lighting solutions for commercial/office, residential homes, and agricultural spaces.
SOPEC; Sustainable Ohio Public Energy Council
This offers programs for residents and small businesses to receive 100% renewable energy.
EPA Green Power Markets Website
This shows renewable energy sourcing and Green Power Markets.
Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE)
This helps to finance energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements on private property for commercial and residential properties.
Ohio Air Quality Development Authority Clean Air Improvement Program
Helps businesses of all sizes allowing them to make investments in cleaner, more efficient technologies such as pollution control, energy efficiency, and renewable energy.
Western Land Conservancy
This offers four different opportunities to get carbon credits along with some educational information about why to get these credits.
West Creek Conservancy
This offers three different opportunities to get City Forest Credits.
National Restaurant Association Conserve Program
This offers sustainable business strategies for restaurants.
EPA E3- Economy, Energy, Environment
This resource from the EPA offers a framework for manufacturers and supply-chain manufacturers to green their processes without compromising economic success.
Sustainability in Retail
This guide walks through sustainable business strategies for retailers.
Green Paper Products
This company offers a wide variety of paper products for home use and business use (they cater to many different industries). They also offer custom printing.
Dean Supply Company
This company offers a wide range of products, one of which is mass supplies of compostable dishware.
TRUE
This is a zero waste certification program.
LEED rating system
This is a Green Building rating system that is a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement.
Well
This is a certification for improving air quality, water, and light.
IRA Bonus Mapper
This tool allows you to see if you qualify for bonus credits under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to invest in clean energy.
Economic Development Revolving Loan Fund
This fund can help benefit businesses by providing self-replenishing capital through loans to support growth, development initiatives, and job creation.
Climate Pollution Reduction Grants
This grant opportunity provides around $5 billion in grants to states, local governments, tribes, and territories with a goal to develop and implement ambitious plans for reducing GHG emissions and other air pollution.
PNC’s Sustainable Finance
Offers a wide range of areas for assistance with a commitment of $30 billion to assist in green real estate, renewable energy, clean transportation and sustainability linked loans and bonds with specific green use of proceeds.
Recycling and Litter Prevention Grants
This is geared for communities, nonprofits, businesses, and academic institutions for recycling and litter prevention.
Dsire
This offers sources to grants, rebates, and incentive programs.
SOPEC Ohio Reap Grant Assistance Program
This program offers grant assistance for rural small businesses and agricultural producers.
Climate Program Portal
This is a resource for organizations and public agencies tracking federal investments in climate initiatives. It tracks investments from the IIJA and the IRA along with offering different tools.
Climate Federal Funding Tool
This tool allows you to filter federal funding opportunities for climate projects of all types to find grants that fit your needs.
Western Land Conservancy
This organization works in land conservation, restoration, and preservation in Ohio.
The Nature Conservancy
This organization works on conserving land and water across the world.
The Nature Conservancy
This is The Nature Conservancy’s Take Action Now resource page to pledge and contact officials.
West Creek Conservancy
This organization conserves natural land and restores ecosystems in Northeast Ohio.
Cleveland Metroparks
This organization manages more than 25,000 acres of parks in the Cleveland area.
Keep Ohio Beautiful
This organization is dedicated to helping Ohio communities through tree planting, space restoration, and green infrastructure.
Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park
This organization is geared towards inspiring, preserving, and supporting Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Tinkers Creek Watershed Partners
This organization works to improve water quality and habitats in the Tinker’s Creek watershed through community partnerships.
Greater Cleveland Foodbank
This organization works to end food insecurity in the Cleveland area.
Humble Design Cleveland
This organization furnishes homes for families and individuals transitioning out of homelessness and into stable housing.
Goods Bank NEO
This organization works to bridge the gap by providing new, quality goods donated by generous companies to people in need and the organizations that serve them.
Drink Local Drink Tap
This organization works towards global water equity through education, advocacy, and community-centered water, sanitation, and hygiene projects.
Cleveland 2030 District
This is a movement to create high-performance building districts that reduce environmental impacts while increasing Cleveland’s competitiveness.
Venture Forward Strategies Webinar Series
This is a 5 episode series breaking down sustainability, waste management, energy management and the circular economy.
Emerald Built Environments
This offers sustainability geared webinars
Sustainable Cleveland
This is a community of people/resources that offer information and actionable tools to help others make smart, sustainable choices at home, work, and in the community.
Scope 3 Collective
This is a guide to collecting Scope 3 emissions data.
Dix&Eaton Sustainability/ESG Materiality Assessment Checklist
This is a clickable checklist that allows you to see where you are now and where you are headed in your sustainability journey. This checklist helps to decide if a company should conduct a materiality assessment.
Dix&Eaton ESG Sustainability Free E-Newsletter
This is a sign-up for a weekly newsletter that provides resources and the latest news regarding sustainability.
The Nature Conservancy
This is a tool to calculate an (individual) carbon footprint.
The Nature Conservancy
This is an educational piece explaining how this organization is working to preserve and protect our natural areas.
The Nature Conservancy
These are different data sets and tools that TNC offers on a more national level.
InvestHer Strategies 2024 Sustainability Transformation Document
This document provides insight into integrating sustainability deeply within a business.
InvestHer Strategies Software Considerations
This offers guidance for when you are considering adopting a new sustainability technology.
IRA Guidebook
This guide from The White House explains the Inflation Reduction Act and how it can be used to acquire funding for investing in clean energy.
Green Business Resources
These resource guides from the Green Business Council of Cincinnati explore energy benchmarking, waste management, and composting for businesses.
2024 Sustainable Energy In America Factbook
This factbook reports on macroeconomic trends occurring across the clean energy industry, including sector-by-sector market responses.
