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 5 / 26 For this purpose, since 2016 Colombia has pursued a continual legislative agenda to reduce CC [48,49]. Specifically, it has ratified several green tax laws targeting greenhouse emissions from producers and importers of fossil fuels (Law 1819/2016). In addition, the Colombian government has imposed a specific tax for each ton of greenhouse emissions (i.e., 25,799.56 Colombian pesos- approximately 6.37 United States Dollars- in 2024) for highly polluting and resource- intensive industries. More so, several Colombian governments have established general CC regulations for large firms, financial corporations, and firms within the energy sector (Law 1931/2018). These regulations compel enterprises to elab- orate emission reports, mitigation and adaptation plans, and environmental responsibility strategies, establishing various economic incentives to reduce greenhouse emissions. Fig 1 illustrates the geographical scope of our research, which falls under the administrative jurisdiction of the larg- est business association in Colombia. This meta-organization oversees nine provinces within the Cundinamarca region: Bogotá, Sumapaz, Soacha, Oriente, Sabana Centro, Guavio, Medina, Almeidas, and Ubaté. These provinces encompass 59 municipalities and the capital city, forming a business community of 495,981 active ventures as of 2023 [50]—repre- senting approximately 28.5 percent of Colombia’s active businesses. Of these, 85 percent are concentrated in the capital,

while 15 percent are distributed across the municipalities. Overall, MSMEs account for 99.3 percent of all ventures in the region. In 2023, this region contributed approximately 31.3 percent of the national Gross Domestic Product, generating Fig 1. Geographical location of the Cundinamarca Region and the research site. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0327165.g001