Communication: Green Action Plan for SMEs: enabling SMEs to turn environmental challenges into business opportunities

The March 2014 European Council highlighted that Europe needs a strong and competitive industrial base, in terms of both production and investment, as a key driver for economic growth and jobs. Resource efficiency is one of the main drivers of companies' competitiveness since, reportedly, European manufacturing firms spend, on average, 40% of their costs on raw materials, with energy and water pushing this to 50% of total manufacturing costs, to be compared to a share of 20% for labour costs. The European Council further called for sustained efforts to moderate the energy costs borne by energy end-users, in particular through sustained investment in energy efficiency and demand-side management all along the value chain and at the R&D stage.

Resource efficiency improvements do indeed require combining a value chain approach with the implementation of complex technical solutions at company level. It is estimated that resource efficiency improvements all along the value chains could reduce material inputs needs by 17%-24% by 2030. Moreover, in the EU, currently, 60% of total waste is not recycled, composted or reused, which indicates an enormous leakage of valuable resources and significant business opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that can apply and sell green products, services and solutions. Business opportunities can also be created from integrating more circular business models and green technologies into existing and future SMEs across all sectors, including services.

The Europe 2020 Strategy outlines the EU’s priority to become a sustainable economy and set ambitious objectives for climate action and energy efficiency. The Small Business Act (SBA) highlighted that the EU and Member States should enable SMEs to turn environmental challenges into opportunities. The Green Action Plan (GAP) gives a clear direction and framework for how the EU, in partnership with Member States and regions, intends to help SMEs exploit the business opportunities that the transition to a green economy offers. This initiative concretely presents a series of new or revised SME-oriented actions proposed at European level.

The GAP aims to (1) improve resource efficiency of European SMEs, (2) support green entrepreneurship, (3) exploit the opportunities of greener value chains, and (4) facilitate market access for green SMEs. It is presented in complementarity with the Communication 'Green Employment Initiative - Tapping into the job creation potential of the green economy', which proposes a roadmap for supporting green jobs creation across the EU, and with the Communication 'Resource Efficiency Opportunities in the Building Sector' as well as with the Circular Economy Package and Waste Target Review.

The Green Action Plan sets out a series of objectives and lists actions that will be implemented at European level within the framework of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020. All the actions are either new or revised versions of previous actions that now take into account the potential for business of resource efficiency and access to green markets. The actions also take into account the results of the public consultation on the Green Action Plan that took place during the fourth quarter of 2013.

See also:
- Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - Green Employment Initiative: Tapping into the job creation potential of the green economy

EUR-Lex: SWD(2014)213: List of EU actions supporting SMEs in a green economy http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2014:213:FIN

ESO: Background information: Green Action Plan for SMEs: turning environmental challenges into business opportunities http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-green-action-plan-for-smes-turning-environmental-challenges-into-business-opportunities/

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