Christmas Carbon Emissions: What Small Businesses Need to Know

For many small businesses, Christmas is a critical trading period.

It’s also a time when carbon emissions rise sharply - and with them, regulatory risk, cost exposure and reputational scrutiny.

As sustainability expectations tighten and customers increasingly favour responsible suppliers, managing your carbon footprint is becoming a practical necessity, not a “nice to have”. For SMEs without a dedicated sustainability team, Christmas can quietly become a risk hotspot.

We often see this happen without warning: a last-minute supplier questionnaire, a funding conversation, or a client asking for emissions data that simply doesn’t exist yet.

Why Christmas Matters for SMEs

During the festive period, business emissions often increase due to:

• Higher energy use, through increased logistics and delivery activity as well as seasonal staffing and extended operating hours, and
• Greater consumption of goods and materials

While these changes often feel temporary, the data blips stay - and it’s increasingly visible to customers, lenders and procurement teams.

Through our experience we consistently see a seasonal spike in emissions driven by production, transport and waste. For small businesses, this matters because emissions data is now feeding directly into real commercial decisions, including:

• Supplier questionnaires and tender processes
• Procurement decisions from larger clients
• Investor and lender expectations
• Brand reputation and customer trust

Small businesses are not exempt. Many are already being asked to disclose emissions data as part of client onboarding, tenders or funding applications — often with little notice.

The Business Risks of Inaction

Without a clear understanding of your carbon footprint, several risks can emerge:

• Compliance risk: Emissions reporting requirements are moving down the supply chain, and businesses without baseline data risk falling behind.

• Commercial risk: Larger organisations increasingly expect suppliers to demonstrate carbon awareness and credible reduction plans.

• Cost risk: Energy inefficiency, waste and poorly managed logistics quietly push costs up, often without being noticed until margins tighten.

• Reputational risk: Customers are paying closer attention to environmental claims, and inaccurate or unsupported messaging can damage trust.

Christmas can amplify these risks simply because activity levels rise at the same time as capacity and focus are stretched.

What Should Small Businesses Do Next?

The most effective first step is simple: understand where your emissions actually come from.

A carbon audit provides a clear, credible view of your emissions profile — including energy use, transport and key supply chain impacts. For small businesses, this helps to respond confidently to supplier and customer requests and:

• Identify practical cost-saving opportunities

• Prepare for future regulatory requirements

• Communicate sustainability efforts accurately and credibly

Importantly, this doesn’t require an in-house sustainability team. With the right support, a carbon audit can be a proportionate, practical process that delivers value quickly without creating unnecessary admin.

Talk to CarbonNow

If you’re a small business owner unsure where to start with carbon reporting, or concerned about compliance, client expectations or reputational risk, CarbonNow can help.

We specialise in clear, practical carbon audits designed specifically for small and growing businesses. Our focus is on proportionate, actionable insight, not enterprise-grade reporting that creates work without clarity.

If you’d like to understand your carbon footprint and take control of your business’s carbon risk, feel free to get in touch or connect.