106 www.gogreen-project.eu ANNEXES Scenario 1 Trainees’ Handout Title of the simulation activity Business as Usual Scenario (No change at business policy) Duration 165 - 180 Minutes Summary/overview Companies have a critical role to play in the climate change challenge, which renders them across the globe, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), responsible for taking action. While SMEs have started responding to climate change, they still lack the necessary skills or competencies to set appropriate targets and act in the right direction. More training is needed for them to develop their skills, along with some guidance that will contribute to setting robust and credible targets in line with the climate change conditions. Here, we examine some of the reasons why European companies and especially SMEs have not yet embraced a green agenda and are happy to maintain the status quo with no change at their current business policy or strategy. We will explore the current realities facing companies acknowledging that businesses are often fearful of the unknown and the risks of transitioning to a new green strategy. This can put a halt to embracing more ‘green’ policies and actions as a part of their business operations and allow business practices harmful to the environment to continue. Based upon these realities, there is a need for greater level of information and training to debunk the belief that transiting to greener business practices is costly and risky, whilst highlighting that inaction continues to impact negatively on the environment through higher greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Not going green and maintaining the status quo can present missed opportunities for companies to, in fact reduce costs, eliminate the likelihood of facing fines and penalties for negative business practices i.e., pollution, etc. and reverse their poor public corporate image as a company that does not care about the environment and overlooks the CSR potential benefits in the long term. The training proposed by this role-playing scenario will highlight at first the risks that companies might face if they are not acquainted with the link between high GHG emissions and climate change, the related penalty and fines that they might receive from Local, National and EU authorities if they do not lower their GHG emission levels. Secondly, the scenario will explore the link between the green practices and the cost reductions for the company; finally, it will be shown how the lack of CSR can result in a poor company image. GoGreen offers you the opportunity to participate in a simulation-based training workshop in the form of role-playing which will help you better understand the climate change impacts, as well as to get more knowledge about actions that enterprises take to reduce these impacts, understand your role as entrepreneur in this process and the positive implications of such actions for your business.
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