In welcoming yesterday’s European Parliament ITRE1 Committee vote on the Energy Efficiency Directive, EUROCHAMBRES2 stressed that this is just the first step in a lengthy and challenging process and called on member states to ensure that they implement the legislation with SMEs in mind.
Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) subscribes to this opinion with its numerous position-papers on energy efficiency and competitiveness of SMEs.
A EUROCHAMBRES survey of over 2000 SMEs in 12 countries highlighted the need for a range of support measures to capitalise on the huge energy efficiency potential of smaller businesses.
These included basic information on low or no-cost energy efficiency measures, improvements in measuring energy consumption and financial support for longer term investments.
EUROCHAMBRES’ Secretary General Arnaldo Abruzzini said: “This directive provides a sound legal base for delivering improved energy efficiency across the EU. However, the Directive will only fulfill its purpose and deliver benefits both in terms of the EU climate targets and competitiveness if SMEs are provided with appropriate tools to improve their energy efficiency.”
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1: Industry, Research and Energy Committee
2: EUROCHAMBRES – The Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry represents over 20 million enterprises in Europe – 93% of which are SMEs – through members in 45 countries and a European network of 2000 regional and local Chambers.