Navigating climate change: Climate change awareness and strategies in micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in a developing economy

PLOS One | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0327165 July 2, 2025 13 / 26 possibly indicating uncertainty or a lack of awareness regarding climate change strategies. Similarly, a substantial portion of SE ventures (25.00 percent) expressed lack of awareness of any strategy. In contrast, when examining the secondary economic sector, Panel C of Table 4 shows that MSMEs and SBO exhibit greater awareness of strategies at the corporate practice level (MSMEs = 58.93 percent; SBO = 67.65 percent) compared to operational processes (MSMEs = 27.23 percent; SBO = 15.29 percent). SE ventures in this sector demonstrated a higher awareness of strat- egies at the corporate practices level (66.67 percent), with a notable percentage (11.11 percent) indicating no response or lack of awareness. Finally, Panel D of Table 4 shows that SE and SBO in the tertiary economic sector exhibit higher awareness of strategies at the corporate practices level (SE = 54.29 percent; SBO = 61.16 percent) compared to MSMEs (50.00 percent). However, MSMEs in the tertiary sector demonstrated greater awareness of operational process strategies (29.35 percent) than SE (27.14 percent) and SBO (SBO = 23.21 percent). The above findings, supported by the Pearson chi-square (X2) test of homogeneity, indicate significant heterogeneity across economic sectors (Primary : X2 = 80.49; Secondary : X2 = 54.32; Tertiary : X2 = 54.32; p = 0.00), reinforcing the notion that ventures across different sectors exhibit varied levels of strategic CC awareness. According to previous empiri-

cal studies [63], the impact and strategic response to CC vary across the business community. Indeed, based on our anal- ysis, MSMEs exhibit heterogeneous strategic approaches to cope with the increased pressures on the operational viability of businesses, which may be constrained by the resources available within the organization [62]. These sector-specific variations emphasize the need for tailored CC strategies and educational efforts that address the unique challenges and opportunities faced by firms from different sectors. Carbon neutrality: Strategic timing and antecedents Subsequently, we explored the period upon which MSMEs expect to achieve carbon neutrality. Table 5 details the stra- tegic timing for each type of MSME. Panel A shows that a significant proportion of respondents believed they could achieve carbon-neutral emissions within five years (33.72 percent), while 42.53 percent expected to reach this goal within six to twenty years. However, a notable share of respondents expressed either a lack of interest in carbon neu- trality (15.62 percent), skepticism about its feasibility (13.08 percent), or insufficient information to estimate its timing (10.67 percent). Furthermore, the Pearson chi-square (X2) test of homogeneity (X2 = 42.01; p = 0.00) revealed statis- tically significant heterogeneity in strategic timing across SEs, SBOs, and MSMEs, indicating that these groups follow varied timelines for achieving carbon neutrality. This suggests a lack of a unified societal objective for reaching this goal.

Moreover, these results align with recent discussions on climate neutrality, that stress the absence of standardized global guidelines for establishing net-zero strategies [64,65]). This lack of clear directives has led to challenges in setting socially accepted carbon targets and designing appropriate strategies, with the approach to carbon neutrality largely influenced by company size. In turn, panels B, C, and D in Table 5 present the strategic timing by economic sector. We observe that most firms in the primary sector perceive achieving carbon neutrality in a period lower than 10 years (Mean Primary Sector = 0.71), a pro- portion that is higher than others economic sectors (Mean Secondary Sector = 0.45; Mean Tertiary Sector = 0.51). This suggests that MSMEs in the primary sector view carbon neutrality as critical for survival. The Pearson chi-square (X2) test of homo- geneity indicates homogeneity among business ventures within the primary sector (X2 = 11.90; p = 0.454). This suggests that businesses within this sector may share a common strategic approach, possibly viewing carbon neutrality as a critical component achievable in the short term. More so, we observe that a higher proportion of MSMEs from the secondary sec- tor (Mean Secondary Sector = 0.12) perceive achieving carbon neutrality in a period higher than 10 years but lower than twenty years. This proportion is higher than others economic sectors (Mean Primary Sector = 0.05; Mean Tertiary Sector = 0.08). This

result could imply that MSMEs from the secondary sector may plan and invest with a long-term perspective to achieve sig- nificant changes in their production processes. This perspective is further supported by the Pearson chi-square (X2) test of homogeneity, which indicates homogeneity among ventures within this sector (X2 = 17.06; p = 0.148), thus, suggesting