We’re excited to welcome Bristol-based climate tech start-up, Ecologi, to the Xero App Store to support service-based small businesses in the UK to track and reduce their impact on the environment.

It’s more important than ever for the business community to play its part in protecting our planet. During the recently concluded COP27, there was an increased call during the summit for stronger action on net-zero. But for smaller businesses, it can be difficult to know where to start.  

Ecologi’s app will give thousands of service-based small businesses the opportunity to access Ecologi Zero, a simple-to-use and accurate carbon accounting platform for free – allowing them to measure their emissions. This will help to make carbon tracking and climate action more accessible for smaller businesses.

Barriers facing small businesses

Small businesses are already facing so many challenges in the UK. So when it comes to sustainability, many don’t have the same time or resources to focus on it as bigger organisations. Taking the first step can seem overwhelming, especially when there is little support out there.

Our research shows that 68% of small businesses want to improve their sustainability practices, but many don’t know where to start. The good news is that new digital tools like Ecologi are helping to level the playing field, reduce the barriers and simplify the process for these businesses.

Working together to help businesses go green

Calculating a business’s carbon footprint, the critical first step in the journey towards net-zero emissions, is often a time consuming and manual task.

But Ecologi Zero’s simple dashboard will allow service-based small businesses using Xero to gain a thorough understanding of their footprint, automatically measure and track emissions whilst also helping them take positive climate action on their net-zero journey.

By connecting with Xero, Ecologi Zero allows small businesses to gain clear visibility of emissions hotspots by securely sharing transactional data, such as spend on travel or software services.

Emissions are calculated for each transaction which is then included in your business’s carbon footprint. Ecologi Zero will then capture other information about your business activities to give you a thorough understanding of all of your  emissions – from operations to your supply chain.

Ecologi Zero is currently only available to service-based small businesses, such as mechanics, tutors, or others that don’t sell physical products, but Ecologi plans to expand the app’s capability in 2023 to give even more businesses access.

Our commitment to net-zero

We’re committed to taking meaningful action on climate change and supporting the communities we serve in this area. We’re proud to be on a carbon reduction journey, called ‘Net Zero @ Xero’. Globally we’ve offset 100 percent of our carbon emissions since FY19 and we’ve continued to reduce the emissions generated by our business. We’ve also announced new emissions reduction targets by 2030 to continue our net-zero journey. You can read more about these here.

Working with Ecologi in the UK will give more businesses access to the data they need to make more sustainable decisions, and we hope this will help many to take the first step on their net-zero journey.