This document discusses the importance of improving energy efficiency among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the European Union. It notes that SMEs represent 99% of EU businesses and account for 60-70% of environmental impacts, but only 0.4% use certified environmental management systems. The document outlines EU strategic priorities of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and examines SME performance trends among EU member states. It provides statistics on resource efficiency actions taken by SMEs and barriers to further efficiency. Finally, it presents a case study of energy consumption trends among Portuguese manufacturing SMEs and proposes a sample for analyzing their energy efficiency potential.

1. SME, Energy Efficiency and Sustainability
Isabel Soares
FEP/CEF.UP
Isabel Soares ( isoares@fep.up.pt)
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2. Outline
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3. EU STRATEGIC PRIORITIES
Smart
growth
Sustainable
growth
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Inclusive
growth
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4. Problem
Increasing share of REN in a country’s energy mix is a necessary but not a
sufficient condition for the sustainability of economic system.
 Energy Efficiency (EE) encompasses all changes leading to a reduction in the
energy used for a given energy service or level of activity
BUT
 EU 20% goal for energy savings could not be met with present policies…
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5. Why SMEs?
 99% of EU-27 enterprises in the private sector are SMEs.
 60%-70% of environmental impact is related to SMEs.
 About 0.4% of SMEs use a certified Environmental Management System
 About 24% of SMEs are actively engaged in actions which are reducing
their environmental impact
 Most EU businesses are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
They represent an enormous energy saving potential for the EU
European Commission also promotes the growth of SMEs also through the Small Business Act for Europe
(SBA), a set of 10 principles which should guide the design and implementation of policies both at EU and
national level
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6. SMEs are the backbone of the European economy and their
contribution is essential for pursuing the goals of ‘Europe 2020’,
the Strategy for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth
 Accounting for 99.8% of non-financial enterprises in 2012
businesses.
20.7 million
 The majority (92.2%) are micro-enterprises (< 10 employees)
 6.5% of EU SME are small enterprises ( 10 - 49 employees)
 1.1% are medium-sized (50-249 employees)
 Only 0.2% are non-financial large businesses (> 250 employees)
Isabel Soares ( isoares@fep.up.pt)
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7. Isabel Soares ( isoares@fep.up.pt)
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8. Annual growth % in Employment, Real Value Added and Real Productivity of EU27
SMEs ( 2008-2011)
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9. SME performance among Member States: diverging trends
(2011 Data)
 Only Austria, Germany and Malta exceeded their 2008 levels of real VA and
employment in their SMEs (Ecorys, 2012).
 Belgium, Finland France and Luxemburg: a flat SME performance 2008.
 In the remaining EU countries: SMEs have not recovered their pre-crises levels of
real VA and employment.
WHY?
1. SME employment is relatively concentrated in high-tech and medium-tech manufacturing and
knowledge-intensive services
2.
Sectoral labour productivity levels are higher when the sector shows higher investment
rates, higher export rates and when the sector belongs to high-tech manufacturing and
knowledge-intensive services.
3.
Best performing countries have combined SME employment growth with SME labour
productivity growth, although SME EG much higher than LPG.
Isabel Soares ( isoares@fep.up.pt)
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10. European Strategy to boost SMEs according to strategic
priorities
Resource Efficiency
Green Markets
EU
Strategy
Green Jobs
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11.  For an economist: EE is associated with economic efficiency and includes:
Technological
change
Behavorial
change
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Economic
change
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12. EU 27 SMEs: facts on the European Sustainability Targets up to
2020
1.
RESOURCE EFFICIENCY
3% of EU SMEs are taking at least one action to
be more resource efficient.
SMEs would save energy (64%), minimize waste (62%), recycle (61%), save
materials (57%) and water (50%), while large companies with more than 250
employees would save more energy (82%), minimize waste (72%), recycle (76%),
save materials (74%) and sell scrap material to companies (44% vs. 24%)
80% of SMEs plan to implement additional resource efficiency actions in the next
two years
Isabel Soares ( isoares@fep.up.pt)
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13. EU 27 SMEs: facts on the European Sustainability Targets up to
2020
• Resource Efficiency
33% of SMEs make efforts to improve resource efficiency,
as it is one of their top priorities.
1/5 of SMEs would take measures because of financial and fiscal incentives,
or other forms of public support to create a competitive advantage/business
opportunity (23%), or because of demand from customers or providers
(22%).
Large companies with over 250 employees compared to SMEs would take
efficiency measures to create a competitive advantage/business opportunity (36%
vs. 23% for SMEs), anticipate future professional/product standards (22% vs. 12%),
as well as further changes in legislation (20% vs. 12%)
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14. EU 27 SMEs: facts on the European Sustainability Targets up to
2020
• Resource Efficiency
43% of SMEs receive external support in relation to environmental actions from the private sector (24%) and
public support (9%), while 47% of large companies receive external support from private sector and from public
sector (13%).
Measures to improve resource efficiency have reduced the production costs for 35% of SMEs, while 27% of SMEs had
production costs increased.
25% of SMEs have an Environmental Management System (EMS) in place in comparison to 48% of large
companies.
EU structural and cohesion funds supported 4% of SMEs.

11% of SMEs have bid for a public procurement tender that included environmental
requirements, while 16% of large companies participate in a public procurement tender with
environmental requirements.
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15. Energy consumption by manufacturing business in Portugal
(2000-2010)
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16. 
Sample:
a) 100 SMEs;
b) North/Center/Alentejo;
c) Textil&Garment/Metal Engineering/Wood/Furniture&Cork/Glass & Ceramics/Foodstuffs;
energy consumption mainly between 250-500 tep;
d) Potential to increase energy efficiency
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17. Isabel Soares ( isoares@fep.up.pt)
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18. Isabel Soares ( isoares@fep.up.pt)
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19. Thank you!
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20. References
•
•
•
WEC.2011:Energy efficiency policies around the world: review and evaluation
ECORYS ,Sept. 2012: EU SMEs in 2012: at the crossroads
IAPMEI ( Editor), Nov. 2012: Estratégia de Eficiência Energética em PME
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