Manitoba businesses are hearing more about emissions tracking, but many small and medium-sized enterprises still wonder whether it really applies to them. Through the Manitoba Green Advantage Strategic Sustainability Initiative (SSI), companies are being supported to get ahead of what’s coming and turn sustainability into a competitive advantage.

Alex Stuart, CEO of Standard Carbon, a Winnipeg-based climate accounting and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) verification firm, explores why emissions tracking matters, what SMEs should expect and how Manitoba businesses can prepare.

From Clean Power to Competitive Profit: Manitoba SMEs and the Rise of Climate Accounting

In the not-so-distant future a customer is going to ask you for the carbon footprint of the product or service your business produces.

Wait, what?

You might ask yourself, “I thought we only had to produce a rough guess of my company’s GHG emissions, put it on a shelf, and forget about it?”

To paraphrase from a 70’s T.V. show, “would you believe” if you’re part of a supply chain that sells into California (SB 253) or New York state (S.3456), this request is already making its way to you? Would you believe Canadian banks and insurance companies have already been told by their regulator to start calculating the carbon footprint of their lending? (OSFI Guideline B-15 for those keeping score at home). Would you believe the EU already has a pollution tariff for imports? (CBAM).

If you’re looking for a fresh angle to position your business, keep reading. Manitoba’s green advantage has never been more valuable, and now there’s a way to quantify and profit from it.

Product Carbon Footprints (PCFs) are THE way to capture and leverage our province’s green advantage. PCFs are simplified life cycle assessments that captures the carbon footprint of the inputs.

Businesses already add up the cost of everything that goes into their products. In a PCF you’re simply doing the same thing for the carbon footprint of all the widgets and services your business takes to operate, tallying them, and slapping this aggregate number on the side of whatever it is your business does. This isn’t new, but it’s new to Manitoba.

Our province intersects this opportunity in three ways: First, we’ve got incredibly clean electricity. When calculating the PCF, you take into account the electricity that went into production. Manitoba’s electricity has a low emissions factor (the technical term for the quantity of GHG on a per unit basis), making everything manufactured start out with a carbon-advantage over other jurisdictions. To pick on a Blue Bomber fan’s favorite punching bag, Saskatchewan, who’s businesses receive energy with a carbon footprint of 630 Tonnes of GHG per GWh, Manitoba Hydro delivers that same amount of energy with 1.3 Tonnes of GHG emissions. This means the same amount of electricity is 48,000% more polluting in Saskatchewan than in Manitoba.

Secondly, in addition to our central geographic advantages we’re an Arctic province. I heard Premiere Kinew say this at an event in late 2025. Our location is often touted as a way to keep shipping costs down, but you now get to leverage how this impacts the carbon footprint of getting your product to your customer. This lower carbon footprint is worth money to those enterprises who are under pressure to reduce pollution from their supply chains.

Lastly, this comes together in having large manufacturers headquartered here who rely on a combination of domestic and international suppliers. Suddenly those domestic suppliers are more competitive when the GHG content gets factored in. I have seen the RFP’s and let me assure you these large manufacturers are already being asked for the carbon footprint of their end products. With California and New York mandating climate disclosures from including emissions from the supply chain, Manitoba’s lower GHG emissions and the associated financial gains are yours for the taking.

Thankfully there’s a local solution for your PCF’s, Standard Carbon is a Winnipeg-Based ISO 14065:2020 accredited GHG auditor, and we’ve used our expertise to develop our climate accounting software. SCOP3™ closes the emissions data gap between SMEs and large enterprises by producing standardized climate reports calculated from the financial records every business is already keeping. Designed specifically for SMEs, our software aligns with established accounting practices, and international climate disclosure standards, SCOP3 is a light-touch piece of accounting software that eliminates the need for in-house environmental expertise. Get in touch!

Alex Stuart CEO, Standard Carbon