Environmental Management System and SMEs: EU Experience, Barriers and Perspectives

Abstract

SMEs are defined as enterprises which employ less than 250 employees and which have an annual turnover not exceeding €50 million, and/or an overall balance sheet not exceeding €43 millions (European Commission 2003). There are some 23 million SMEs in the EU providing approximately 75 million jobs (66% of private employment and up to 80% in some industrial sectors such as textile, construction or furniture) (European Commission 2005) . Moreover, micro enterprises1 account for almost 93% of the total number of SMEs, 6% are small enterprises2 and less than 1% are medium-sized enterprises. Small and medium-sized enterprises represent a large part of EU economy, being some 99% of all enterprises and 57% of economy value added (European Commission 2005), as such they also have a primary role to play in shifting the EU economy to more sustainable production and consumption patterns. SMEs are active in a range of sectors across the EU: 22.2% in the service sector (i.e. business to business services); 20.4% in personal services (i.e. business to consumer services); 20% in retail distribution; 11.9% in manufacturing; 11.6% in construction; 8.1% in wholesale trade; 5.5% in transport and communication; and 0.2% in extraction and energy. The presence of SMEs in different economic sectors varies between Member States. SMEs are far from being a homogenous group. However they have a number of features in common, and do certainly encounter similar problems in relation to environmental compliance and performance. Since they represent such a large percentage of economic activities, SMEs have a significant impact on the environment. The environmental problem does not fully emerge if one considers individual firms, although in some cases there can be significant impacts on local environments and communities exerted by a single SME, but pertains their combined and cumulative impact.