Lunar: When Climate Data Becomes a Practical Tool for Small Businesses

Daniel Meneghin, Head of ESG & CSRD at Lunar.

As a fully digital bank with a strong presence in the SME market, Lunar has long had a clear focus: simplifying entrepreneurship through digital solutions built for real needs. As sustainability requirements for small and medium-sized enterprises increase, Lunar sees a growing need to make sustainability work more accessible, understandable, and useful in everyday business operations.

Lunar is now launching, in collaboration with GoClimate, a solution that gives small businesses access to climate data directly within their ongoing operations. The ambition is for climate data not to be perceived as a separate project or an administrative requirement, but as a natural basis for decision-making in day-to-day business.

“We now want to make climate data something that is actually accessible in everyday operations – not a separate sustainability project alongside the core business,” says Daniel Meneghin, Head of ESG & CSRD at Lunar.

A clear picture of climate impact

Lunar’s own sustainability efforts are rooted in a comprehensive mapping of the company’s greenhouse gas emissions, based on the GHG Protocol. For Lunar, this is a prerequisite for working in a structured and long-term way. Without a consolidated view of where and why emissions actually arise, measures risk becoming scattered or ineffective.

The mapping makes it possible to identify the largest sources of emissions and track them over time. It also creates a shared internal foundation, where sustainability issues can be linked to actual figures rather than assumptions.

“Without a clear picture of where emissions occur, it is almost impossible to know which measures truly make a difference,” says Daniel Meneghin.

With this overview as a foundation, Lunar works both with relatively direct measures – such as energy efficiency and renewable electricity – and with more complex initiatives, for example how suppliers are evaluated and which requirements are set in procurement and follow-up.

A responsibility that extends beyond the organization

For Lunar, sustainability work is not limited to its own operations. A significant part of the bank’s impact exists within the ecosystem that enables its business: suppliers, technology partners, and other actors in the value chain.

“Our impact does not stop at our own operations – it exists throughout the entire ecosystem of suppliers and partners around us,” says Daniel Meneghin.

Against this background, Lunar sees its responsibility as broader than regulatory compliance. The ambition is to contribute to tangible improvements by sharing tools, methods, and knowledge – also with smaller actors that often lack their own sustainability resources.

Already today, Lunar provides its suppliers with access to the same foundation the bank itself uses, for example solutions for renewable electricity and methods for calculating emissions in a practical and feasible way. When suppliers are ready to take the next step, Lunar can also offer advisory support in their transition efforts.

Climate data as an enabler for SME customers

For many small businesses, the biggest obstacle is not a lack of willingness, but a lack of time, knowledge, and access to usable data. At the same time, requirements from customers, partners, and financiers are increasing.

“For many small businesses, the hardest step is not reducing emissions – but simply getting started,” says Daniel Meneghin.

Through the partnership with GoClimate, Lunar aims to provide its SME customers with a reasonable and simple starting point. With access to reliable climate data, companies can begin to build an understanding of their climate footprint and use the figures to support everyday decisions.

“Reliable climate data gives small businesses a reasonable starting point to prioritize correctly and develop over time,” says Daniel Meneghin.

For companies that choose to use the data actively, it can become a practical tool – for example, to compare different parts of the business, gain a better understanding of emissions linked to products or services, or identify where improvements are most relevant.

Simplicity determines whether tools are used

Lunar is built around the idea of simplicity and user-friendliness. The same principle applies to its sustainability services. Experience shows that if tools are perceived as complicated, time-consuming, or difficult to understand, they risk never becoming part of daily operations.

“If the tools are not as easy to use as the rest of the banking services, they will not be used either,” says Daniel Meneghin.

Therefore, the ambition is for sustainability services to feel just as intuitive as the other features of Lunar’s digital platform – without oversimplifying what is genuinely complex.

Climate data, financing, and future business decisions

Through its partner Froda, Lunar also offers financing to small businesses. In this context, the bank sees that structured sustainability data can play an increasingly important role. Climate data can contribute to a clearer picture of risks and opportunities over time, both for companies and their financial partners.

“This is not about quick shortcuts, but about being better prepared and making more well-informed decisions as expectations change,” says Daniel Meneghin.

For small businesses, this may mean better conditions in dialogues with investors, lenders, and larger customers – especially as sustainability-related issues increasingly become a natural part of business relationships.

A long-term partnership

The collaboration with GoClimate is part of Lunar’s long-term strategy for the SME segment. For Lunar, it is about both understanding how climate data is used in practice and contributing to a development where sustainability is integrated into business decisions, rather than handled alongside the core business.

“In the long term, climate data will become a practical foundation for strengthening the business and its competitiveness,” says Daniel Meneghin.

Exclusive business offer for GoClimate customers

GoClimate and Lunar are collaborating to make it easier for companies to make long-term business decisions and carry out strategic investments that strengthen operations and prepare businesses for future requirements.

As a GoClimate customer applying via this page, you will receive a 20% discount for your first 12 months with Lunar.

Read more and take advantage of the offer here.