This article relates to Goal 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure, one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Goal icon by the United Nations. Emberoot is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the UN.
Most companies will never build a port or a power station, yet SDG 9 still applies to them. The goal covers small firms’ access to finance, cleaner and more efficient production, research and digital connection, and a small or growing business makes decisions about all four every month. This article sets out practical SDG 9 steps for small businesses, sized for a team of five to a few hundred, with a note on what each costs in time and money.
Why SDG 9 is relevant to small businesses
Small firms are most of the economy. The World Bank says small and medium-sized enterprises make up about 90% of businesses and more than half of jobs worldwide, and puts the finance gap for micro, small and medium firms in emerging and developing economies at $5.7 trillion. Target 9.3 is written with these firms in mind: better access to credit and a place in larger value chains.
The UN SDG Report 2026 also shows that industrial emissions reached a record in 2025, and that the share of manufacturing in world GDP has been flat at 15.6% since 2015. Smaller firms are part of both stories, as suppliers, producers and buyers.
Five SDG 9 steps you can take this year
1. Measure your energy and materials use
Target 9.4 asks industry to use resources more efficiently. Start with twelve months of energy bills and your biggest material purchases. Say a furniture workshop in Pune finds that one old compressor accounts for a large share of its power bill: that is a clear case for repair or replacement, and the saving can be checked against the next bill. A spreadsheet is enough for the first round.
2. Ask your suppliers two simple questions
Larger customers increasingly ask suppliers about emissions and working conditions. You can do the same with your own suppliers, at a scale that fits. Ask what energy they use and whether they can share basic data on waste. Keep the answers in one place. Over time this lets you pick suppliers who will still meet your customers’ requirements later.
3. Get your business data in order before you borrow
Lenders look for clean, regular records. Monthly accounts, a simple cash-flow forecast and invoices you can trace make it easier to borrow at a fair rate, which is the point of target 9.3. Many small firms are turned down because they cannot show their numbers quickly, not because the business is weak.
4. Put a small, steady budget into improvement
Target 9.5 talks about research and development at national level, but the habit works at any size. Set aside a fixed amount of time each month to test one improvement: a new material, a better process, a product variant a customer asked for. Record what you tried and what happened. Some countries offer tax relief for qualifying research spending, so ask an accountant whether any of your work counts.
5. Make your digital channels work for people on slow connections
Target 9.c is about internet access. The ITU estimates 2.2 billion people were offline in 2025, and many more use slow or expensive mobile data. A lighter website, clear pages that load on a basic phone and content that meets the WCAG 2.2 accessibility guidelines reach more customers and cost less to run. Our website work treats speed and accessibility as standard requirements for this reason.
Keep the scale realistic
A ten-person firm does not need a sustainability department. One person spending a few hours a month can keep an energy log, a supplier list and an improvement log up to date. The aim is to make better decisions and to have evidence ready when a customer, investor or bank asks.
- Track a few numbers you can collect every month
- Fix the largest waste before buying new technology
- Write down what you tested and the result
- Say exactly what you changed when you talk about SDG 9
- Claiming the UN endorses your company or product
- Buying software before you know what you need to measure
- Publishing targets you cannot track
- Using the SDG icons as decoration on marketing
How to talk about SDG 9 without overclaiming
If you mention the Global Goals in your marketing, link each claim to something specific: a measured drop in energy use, a supplier change, a product that works on low bandwidth. Avoid suggesting any UN body has approved your business. The SDG 9 goal page lists the targets so you can match your actions to the right one.
If you want help deciding which of these steps matters most for your business, every Emberoot project starts with a free 30-minute call and a written scope agreed before any work begins. You can get in touch here.
This article is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
Can a small business contribute to SDG 9?
Yes. SDG 9 includes targets on small firms getting finance, industry using resources more efficiently, research and development, and internet access. A small business can track and cut energy and material waste, keep records that help it borrow fairly, test improvements regularly and make its digital services usable on slow connections. Each of these links to a specific target.
Which SDG 9 target is most relevant to small firms?
Target 9.3 is written directly for them. It asks for better access to financial services, including affordable credit, for small industrial and other enterprises, and for their integration into value chains and markets. Target 9.4, on efficient and cleaner production, is often the easiest for a small manufacturer to act on and measure.
Do I need special software to work on SDG 9?
Not at the start. A spreadsheet that tracks monthly energy use, main materials, waste and supplier details is enough for most small firms in the first year. Software becomes useful once you know which numbers matter and collecting them by hand takes too long. Choose tools after you have defined what you need to measure.