Some two thirds (66%) of SMEs in the European Union are implementing measures to save energy, while the same percentage (66%) are also minimising waste, new data from Eurobarometer has found.
Overall, the ‘SMEs, resource efficiency and green markets’ study found that 93% of SMEs in the EU are implementing at last one resource-efficiency measure, with saving materials (57%), saving water (49%), and recycling (48%) among the most cited measures.
Other measures being implemented by SMEs include switching to greener suppliers of materials (33%); designing products that are easier to maintain, repair or reuse (29%); and using predominantly renewable energy (24%).
Just 6% of firms said that they were making no undertakings to be more resource efficient, while 1% answered ‘don’t know’ or offered no answer.
Renewable energy
One in eight firms (12%) are involved in generating their own renewable, green energy on-site, they noted, while close to a quarter (23%) purchase energy from a renewable energy supplier.
More effort to encourage SMEs to utilise renewable energy needs to be made, however, with 63% answering that they currently don’t use renewable energy.
Administrative challenges
At the same time, many SMEs indicate that they face challenges to implementing energy saving measure, with complex administrative or legal procedures (35% of SMEs) and high costs (28% of SMEs) among the barriers cited.
Other potential hurdles include complex environmental reporting requirements, cited by more than a quarter (26%) of respondents; difficulty in adapting environmental legislation to their company (25%); lack of specific environmental expertise (24%); difficulty in choosing the right resource efficiency actions for your company (22%); and complexity associated with environmental labelling and certification (20%).
Fieldwork on the study was carried out across the European Union in June 2024, with the study published by the European Commission’s Eurobarometer service in October 2024.
In a statement, the Commission said that the findings of the survey will feed into its ‘efforts to help SMEs become greener and foster their long-term competitiveness’. Read more here.
