The European commission is to publish a green action plan (GAP) for small and medium-sized enterprises.
It will set out a series of EU-level measures to encourage resource efficiency, promote green entrepreneurship and enable SMEs to access domestic and international markets for eco-innovative products and services. Measures likely to be taken under GAP include establishing a European resource efficiency excellence centre in 2015 to advise SMEs on related programmes and actions, and an analysis of barriers to greater SME resource efficiency.
The commission believes there is considerable scope for SMEs to reduce costs and improve their competitiveness through greater resource efficiency and eco-innovation. Small manufacturers, for example, typically spend about 40% of their costs on raw materials. Responses to a recent consultation revealed that SMEs want help to identify partners for resource efficiency and need matchmaking services so they can pinpoint the best technologies.