Collecting sustainability data from SME suppliers often feels frustrating.
Low response rates are rarely a sign of resistance. They are almost always a sign that the engagement model was not designed with SMEs in mind.
Enterprises send questionnaires. Suppliers struggle to respond. Toolkits are added to help. Engagement still stalls.
The issue is not intent or effort. It is that most supplier engagement approaches focus on information, not execution.
This guide sets out a better way to engage SME suppliers on sustainability. One that moves beyond questionnaires and toolkits, and towards practical, workflow-led participation.
Why this matters now
Supply chain sustainability has moved from a future ambition to a present-day requirement.
Regulatory frameworks such as the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the UK Sustainability Reporting Standards are driving a sharp increase in Scope 3 reporting. For many organisations, emissions from suppliers account for 70 to 90 percent of their total footprint.
At the same time, most supply chains are dominated by SMEs.
These businesses typically:
- Do not have dedicated sustainability teams
- Operate with limited time and resources
- Rely on a small number of systems
- Prioritise delivery, cost, and cash flow
When engagement models assume specialist knowledge, spare capacity, or familiarity with reporting frameworks, SMEs are set up to fail.
The result is predictable:
- Enterprises receive incomplete or estimated data
- Suppliers feel overwhelmed or disengaged
- Sustainability programmes struggle to scale
This is not just a compliance issue. It is a capability issue.
Why questionnaires and toolkits fall short
Questionnaires and supplier engagement toolkits are often treated as the solution to SME engagement.
They bring structure. They provide guidance. They appear thorough.
But both approaches share the same underlying assumption. That suppliers will work out how to respond on their own.
In practice, they fall short for similar reasons.
Questionnaires optimise for extraction, not participation
Traditional sustainability questionnaires:
- Ask for too much at once
- Use technical language designed for specialists
- Focus on what the buyer needs, not what the supplier can realistically provide
- Offer little support at the point of completion
For SMEs, this turns sustainability into an administrative burden rather than a collaborative effort.
Toolkits optimise for information, not action
Supplier toolkits are usually well intentioned. They bundle:
- Guidance documents
- Articles and background reading
- Templates and spreadsheets
- Links to frameworks and standards
What they provide is information.
What they do not provide is a clear path to completion.
SMEs are expected to:
- Read and interpret guidance
- Decide what applies to them
- Translate frameworks into data
- Choose what to do next
The cognitive and time burden remains with the supplier. For many, this feels like homework rather than help.
The missing layer: workflow-led engagement
What is missing from most supplier engagement programmes is not more documentation. It is structure at the point of action.
Workflow-led engagement focuses on:
- Guiding suppliers step by step
- Breaking work into manageable stages
- Embedding guidance where decisions are made
- Making progress visible and achievable
Instead of asking suppliers to work out how to respond, the workflow does that work for them.
This is the shift from compliance-driven requests to capability-building engagement.
A staged engagement model that works
A workflow-led approach still respects the reality of SME capacity. It just sequences it better. The objective should be to walk SMEs through the process in a more interactive, educational and rewarding experience.
Stage 1: Establish the purpose
Start with positioning and framing the engagement, highlighting the benefits for the SME supplier, any incentives you're prepared to provide, and the importance of the information you're requesting.
This is a great opportunity to request initial information suppliers can provide quickly and confidently.
- Company details
- Sites or locations
- Key contacts
This progressively onboards the supplier into the process, builds ownership and removes early friction.
Stage 2: Capture material activities
Once engagement is established, move to high-level activity data on areas that are expected to be hotspots. Be prepared to carry out the respective carbon-calculation on behalf of the SME.
Some examples of requested data at this stage include:
- Energy use
- Fuel consumption
- Business travel
- Waste
Estimates at this point in the journey are acceptable. The goal is coverage and understanding, not precision.
Stage 3: Improve quality and impact over time
As confidence grows, focus on improvement.
- Better breakdowns
- Evidence where appropriate
- Reduction targets
- Practical reduction actions
This is where sustainability shifts from reporting to management.
Designing engagement SMEs can actually sustain
Effective supplier engagement respects time, context, and motivation.
Strong programmes:
- Explain why information is needed
- Are honest about time and effort required
- Use plain language and examples
- Provide support at the point of completion
- Show suppliers how their input is used
- Empower the SME with insights into their data
Consistency and predictability matter more than depth in the early stages.
Avoiding supplier fatigue
As more organisations request sustainability data, SMEs increasingly face duplicated and uncoordinated requests.
To reduce fatigue:
- Align with standards and frameworks (language, inputs and outputs)
- Align sustainability and procurement messaging internally
- Avoid repeated data requests from different teams
- Share progress and outcomes with suppliers
- Establish a regular engagement cadence
Suppliers are more willing to participate when expectations are clear and results or impact are visible.
What to do next
If your current approach relies heavily on questionnaires or static toolkits:
- Identify where suppliers drop out or delay
- Reduce the scope of initial requests
- Replace documents with guided workflows
- Provide strong support routes
- Treat supplier engagement as an ongoing capability, not a one-off task
Engagement improves when effort is designed out of the process.
How TrackZero enables a better way
TrackZero is built around the principle that SMEs need tools, not paperwork.
Instead of asking suppliers to interpret guidance or complete complex questionnaires, TrackZero provides a guided workflow that helps SMEs take practical first steps in sustainability.
With TrackZero, SMEs can:
- Easily and credibly calculate their emissions using simple, activity-based inputs
- Understand which parts of their business drive the most impact
- Receive clear, practical recommendations on how to decarbonise
- Build sustainability capability over time without needing in-house specialists
For enterprises, this means supplier engagement shifts from data extraction to enablement. Data becomes more consistent. Participation improves. And Scope 3 reporting becomes more defensible and scalable.
Closing thought
Questionnaires and toolkits are not inherently wrong. They are simply incomplete.
A better way to engage SME suppliers on sustainability is to move beyond documents and towards workflows that guide action, reduce effort, and build capability.
When engagement is designed around how SMEs actually work, sustainability stops being a burden and starts becoming something that scales.
