While it is surprising to find a multinational company that is not certified to IS0 14001, the situation among small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) is markedly different. For these firms, the cost of certification is proportionally higher and the administrative requirements can be a great burden. As well as wanting to improve their own environmental performance, SMEs are under pressure from larger firms that want to encourage their suppliers to adopt recognised frameworks for environmental management. In 2000, the then UK department for trade and industry tried to support these firms with Project Acorn, which produced a special report ISO 14001: Road From Rio to encourage supply chain partnerships between SMEs and larger firms. It also sought to develop formal management systems and indicators of performance that allowed firms to spread the cost and effort of implementation while offering a recognised measure of their environmental management to show to customers. Project Acorn resulted in a highly-standardised and 'cut down' version and template for SMEs to gain ISO 14001 cost effectively.