About SMEnergy

Over the last decade, attitudes towards the environment have changed; governments, businesses and consumers have all generally accepted the responsibility of taking environmental concerns into their own hands and playing their part to help save the planet’s precious resources.

This responsibility is often driven not only by climate change legislation, but also by pressure from customers and stakeholders to be environmentally conscious.

SMEs (small and medium enterprises) are widely acknowledged as a difficult target for energy policy. This is in part due to their diversity: they operate in every sector, in all property types, and vary from one person operations with no business premises, to manufacturers with up to 250 employees.

According to the SPEEDIER (SME Program for Energy Efficiency through Delivery and Implementation of EneRgy Audits)- a project of CORDIS Program, as of end of November 2019, energy efficiency is considered a low priority for SMEs in comparison to other factors related to running a business.

Worryingly, many SMEs do not regard energy efficiency in the workplace as a key priority and do not have any plans in place to become more energy efficient. The reason could be that the majority of SMEs dodge the issue of energy efficiency because they mistakenly believe that implementing any efficiency measure will be time consuming, difficult, and more importantly, costly.

Challenges cited by SMEs as far as energy efficiency and sustainability

SMEs owners may feel that they do not have the money or resources to put into sustainability and energy efficiency practices.

Small business owners have limited time to invest in sustainability.

Owners of SMEs may not see the value in sustainability and energy efficiency.

SMEs may be interested in increasing their sustainability and energy efficiency, but they may be unsure of how to begin. It can feel overwhelming and seem like there are many barriers to entry.

Project Goal

Provide assistance to SMEs to effectively measure their energy footprint as well as to adopt appropriate measures to decrease it.

About SMEnergy

Challenges cited by SMEs as far as energy efficiency and sustainability

Project Goal

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The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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