1. Enterprise and Industry Public Consultation on Green Action Plan for SMEs: Results SME Envoy Network Munich, 11.03.2014 Lisbeth BAHL POULSEN SMEs: Clusters and Emerging Industries Unit

2. Public Consultation: Aim & Use Aim: Collect stakeholders' views on most effective support measures & actors to help SMEs become more resource efficient & to help them sell green products and services internationally Use: Shape actions of the Green Action Plan for SMEs promoting resource efficiency for and by SMEs Open 20 September – 12 December 2013

3. Public Consultation: Areas covered 1.Profile of Respondents 2.Support Services for Greening SMEs 3.Access to Finance 4.Supporting SMEs in a Greener Value Chain 5.New Business Opportunities in a Greener Economy

4. Profile of Respondents 175 respondents, predominantly business interests & SMEs Other includes research institutes, trade unions, NGOs –notably from environmental sector, business support agencies, organisations and consultancies

5. Profile of Respondents 175 respondents from across the European Union BE includes a number of European organisations

6. Support Services for Greening SMEs Most effective services: Technology & knowledge transfer (57,15%) Resource Efficiency consultancy (55,43%) Awareness raising (53,71%) Most commonly offered services: Awareness raising (60%) Advice on funding & preparation of proposals (45,14%) Technology a knowledge transfer (43,43%)

7. Support Services for Greening SMEs Role of Enterprise Europe Network Most effective services to promote Resource Efficiency: Specific matchmaking events on green technologies (71,3%) RE and eco-innovation as cross-cutting themes for B2B & C2C matchmaking (70,38%) Strategic collaboration between EEN and other key partners (70,38%) Improved classification of RE technologies in EEN d-base for better partner search services (67,65% of business organisations)

8. Access to finance Assessing investment costs of Resource Efficiency actions: Never thought of it (35,43%) Too complicated (30,29%) Done it on my own (21,14%) Done it with help of expert (8,57%)

9. Access to Finance Flash Eurobarometer 2013* – SME responses Impact of Resource Efficiency actions: Decrease in production costs (42%) Increase in production costs (21%) No impact on production costs (25%) Most RE actions are low cost: Over last 2 years, 72% of SMEs have invested less than 5% of annual turn-over in RE Public consultation results confirm these trends * "SMEs, resource efficiency and green markets"

10. Access to Finance Barriers to finance for Resource Efficiency actions: RE investments take too long to become financially viable (72%) Financial return is not high enough (65,85%) Finance providers lack sufficient understanding of RE investments (78,26% of business organisations) Findings contradict Flash Eurobarometer 2013: 68% satisfied with return on RE investment, 12% 'very satisfied'

11. Supporting SMEs in a Greener Value Chain Most important areas for Resource Efficiency actions: Waste management (89,15%) Production operations (86,86%) Recycling (86,28%) Most important drivers of Ressource Efficiency actions: Large companies (90,86%) SMEs (88,57%) Third party intermediaries (70,28%), notably technological centres

12. New Business Opportunities in a Greener Economy Facilitating access to markets for green products & services: Environmental labels & certification are important, but keep it simple for consumers (74,86%) Local/regional strategies are are effective to promote local creation & businesses (72,86%) Other ways for business to show green commitments: Life cycle management, eco-design, environmental footprint, extended producer responsibility (EPR), EU Environmental Technology Verification (ETV), etc.

13. New Business Opportunities in a Circular Economy Everyone supports the circular economy concept! Support knowledge sharing & cooperation between SMEs on 'circular' business models, e.g. product-service systems, cradle-to-cradle and take-back systems Promote resource optimisation across value chains such as repair cycles, recycling & 'upcycling' of waste into new materials or products Beware of high costs of recycling of some products and need to review classification of certain waste types as reusable products

14. New Business Opportunities in a Global Economy Most effective support for access to global markets: Pre-market entry assistance (84%) Business cooperation and networking (83,43%) Identifying potential foreign business partners (82,29%) Easing access to local finance (79,43%) Least effective support: Online information portals for SMEs (34,29%) Temporary offices in target markets (28,57%) Exhibiting a international trade fairs (28%)

15. More information Report on Results of the Public Consultation: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/public- consultation-green-action-plan/index_en.htm#h2-9 Flash Eurobarometer 2013: http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/flash/fl_342_en.pdf