War, AI, Crises, Costs – and Now CO₂ Too

War in Ukraine. War in the Middle East. Uncertainty in the Red Sea. Hormuz – a word hardly anyone in the SME sector used to say, and now suddenly linked to energy prices. The IMF describes energy prices, supply chains and financial markets as key channels through which the Middle East conflict is transmitted. UNCTAD points out how sensitive global trade routes are to disruptions at maritime chokepoints.

China. Taiwan. USA. Tariffs. Sanctions. Counter-sanctions. Supply chains that were supposed to become more resilient and still end up stuck somewhere.

Energy prices. Electricity prices. Gas prices. Grid fees. CO₂ price. Diesel. Road tolls. Transport costs. Material costs. Labour costs. Social security contributions. Rent. Interest rates. Insurance. Software subscriptions that used to cost 49 euros and are now called “enterprise pricing”.

Skills shortage. Or no skills shortage because nobody is hiring right now. Or a skills shortage in exactly the one position you urgently need. Accounting. IT. Sales. Machine operator. Project management. Energy officer. Sustainability too, please – but only on the side.

AI. ChatGPT. Copilot. Prompts. Automation. Data quality. Cybersecurity. Deepfakes. AI regulation. AI training. AI strategy. AI in sales. AI in marketing. AI in controlling. AI in every other presentation. And still nobody can find the latest electricity bill.

CSRD. ESRS. Omnibus. VSME. DNK. GHG Protocol. Scope 1. Scope 2. Scope 3. PCF. CCF. CBAM. EUDR. LkSG. CSDDD. Taxonomy. Double materiality. Single materiality. No materiality, please, we are closing the quarter.

Reporting obligation. No reporting obligation after all. Maybe reporting obligation later. Not subject to CSRD, but the customer still asks. Not in scope, but there is a mandatory field in the supplier portal. Not affected, but please complete by Friday.

Banks. Ratings. Loans. Interest rates. Collateral. ESG questions in financing meetings. “Do you have a carbon footprint?” “Are there climate risks?” “What measures are you planning?” “Who is responsible?” “Can you prove it?”

Tenders. Mandatory fields. Procurement platforms. Login details. Forgotten password. Expired certificate. FSC yes. PEFC maybe. ISO somewhere. Carbon footprint from 2022. Current figures to follow. Final version called final_final_new.

Customer portals. Supplier questionnaires. Code of Conduct. Self-assessment. Human rights. Anti-corruption. Data protection. Information security. Occupational safety. Environmental targets. Complaints procedure. Supplier rating. And somewhere the question: “Please describe your sustainability strategy in a maximum of 500 characters.”

Political uncertainty. Change of government. Reforms. Relief packages. Special funds. Infrastructure. Reducing bureaucracy. More announcements about reducing bureaucracy than bureaucracy actually reduced. New forms for fewer forms.

Economy. Weak demand. Customers deciding later. Offers sitting around for longer. Margins getting smaller. Investments being postponed. Machines that will have to last another year. Projects that are “basically interesting”. Which usually means: not right now.

Digitalisation. ERP. CRM. DMS. BI. API. Interfaces. Excel. Still Excel. One file on the server. One file locally. One file by email. One file nobody wants to open because it contains macros.

Climate change. Heat. Heavy rain. Drought. Water. Insurance. Supply failures. Crop failures. Cooling. Climate adaptation. Employees in production halls that are not getting any better in summer. Sites that suddenly need risk maps.

Communication. Green claims. Greenwashing. Climate-neutral. Carbon-neutral. Compensation. Contribution claim. Reduction first. Evidence, please. No exaggeration. No false promises. But still sound positive, please.

And then there are the completely normal things.

Annual accounts. Inventory. Payroll. VAT. Offers. Invoices. Payment reminders. Holiday planning. Sick notes. Customer appointments. Trade fair preparation. New website. Old website. Google Ads. LinkedIn. Newsletter. Sales. And of course: “Could we quickly post something about sustainability?”

After a list like that, you can understand why many companies do not immediately stand up and applaud when they hear the word sustainability.

Not because they do not care.
But because a lot is happening at the same time.

And still, everyone wants CO₂ data – even if nobody really asked for it. Certainly not as a favourite topic. But very much as normal business information. Like annual accounts, inventory or payroll. You do not do those out of enthusiasm either. But you do them because they are needed.

With a partner like us at your side, even a dry topic like CO₂ accounting becomes a little more manageable. We bring structure to your data, sort through the requirements and translate the whole thing into something you can actually work with.

Thoroughly. Pragmatically. And with enough humour to keep it from becoming tougher than necessary.