# A 12-Month Net-Zero Roadmap for MSMEs With No Sustainability Team

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/msme-net-zero-roadmap-12-months-no-consultants

Published 2026-05-06.

Many MSME net-zero strategies stall because they are written by consultants who leave after the report. This roadmap assumes you have one operations person with two hours per week.

## Month 1: Baseline

Pull last 12 months of electricity bills, fuel invoices, freight bills and biggest material POs. Upload them at [Senseible](https://senseible.earth/): the OCR extracts emissions automatically. Output: total tCO2e split by Scope 1, 2, 3.

## Month 2: Hot-spot map

Most emissions usually sit in a few line items. Identify yours. For most MSMEs it is electricity + freight + one raw material.

## Month 3: Set the SBTi-aligned target

1.5°C trajectory = 4.2% absolute reduction per year. For a 100 tCO2e baseline that is 4.2 tCO2e to remove in year 1.

| Year | Target % reduction | Cumulative |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2026 | 4.2 | 4.2 |
| 2027 | 4.2 | 8.4 |
| 2030 | 4.2 | 21.0 |
| 2035 | 4.2 | 42.0 |
| 2050 | 4.2 | 100 |

## Months 4–6: Easy wins

- LED retrofit (cuts lighting electricity, usually with a short payback)
- Compressed air leak audit (low cost, cuts compressor electricity)
- Procurement switch to nearest supplier (cuts freight emissions)

## Months 7–9: Capex decisions

Apply your [internal carbon price](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/msme-internal-carbon-price-implementation-guide). Decide on rooftop solar, heat pump, or freight mode shift using the [Energy Transition calculator](https://senseible.earth/calculators/energy-transition-savings).

## Months 10–11: Engage suppliers

Send your top 5 suppliers a one-page PCF request. Use it to qualify them for renewals.

## Month 12: Disclose

Publish on your website: baseline, target, year-1 progress, year-2 plan. This helps with buyer queries, green loan applications and tender shortlists.

The roadmap is not the hard part. Consistency is. Block a recurring 2-hour calendar entry for the first Friday of each month.

## Related guides

- [How do we maintain historical carbon data when methodologies change?](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/maintain-historical-carbon-data-methodology-changes)
- [What are the different types of carbon credits in voluntary markets?](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/carbon-credit-types-voluntary-markets)
- [How do we select the right emission factors for our calculations?](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/emission-factors-selection-guidance)