Within the framework of current world geopolitics, and the direct influence in our energy systems, affecting power generation, agriculture and industry, householding and mobility, it is crucial for enterprises, and in particular SME.s to understand the need to develop actions to assure a Business Sustainability Plan.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are defined in the EU recommendation 2003/361. SMEs are an important part of the European economy, with variable value on different countries (in the biggest European economy – Germany 82% of the county’s added value comes from SMEs. For the European Union, the average value that SMEs contribute to the economy was around 56% in 2021. Their importance for an equitable social development and economic growth, it’s a challenge that should be addressed seriously. Quite often forgotten on major European and National policies.
Since early 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 23 million EU-27 SMEs, and more generally SMEs throughout the world, have faced unprecedented economic uncertainty and turmoil. In 2022, in particular for agriculture and industry SME.s, the direct impact of war on energy systems, raised the uncertainty.
Additionally, we are in a full transition mode, from our traditional energy sources and technologies to a new and wide scope of sources, technologies and final usage of energy. Prior to a new normal, interim solutions will be used.
Achieving an affordable sustainable clean energy transition supporting business sustainability, is therefore critical for industrial SME.s. With sustainability concept still relatively new and the steps that a business can follow to develop a sustainability program still unclear, a strong recommendation is to take time and perform an audit assessing existing data (also identifying data gaps).
SME.s time and resources are limited and therefore not necessarily a comprehensive one, but start with an holistic approach, being recommended to review items such as: Governance, Human Resources (competences, engagement), Energy Utilization and Management, Environmental impacts (Wastes, CO2 footprint, product life cycle), Procedures written and in place, Measurements. Bear in mind that, when the facts are few, experts are many. Assed data as information is a must for the decision making process.
The outcome will for sure be a very useful tool, to support an action plan, which may consider a more in depth assessment, but in the meantime, small steps shall be given on a timely controlled manner, measuring performance, to assure that recovery will not be required.