Coping with the Crisis: Increasing Resilience in Small Businesses in Europe through Energy Efficiency

Today’s global energy crisis has driven up the cost of fuels and electricity, creating shortages and hurting consumers, businesses and entire economies. Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) are some of the most exposed economic players, lacking the margins, economies of scale, and support staff that allow larger companies to mitigate the impact of the crisis. At the same time, SMEs are the backbone of economies around the world, making their survival essential.

To help smaller businesses overcome these perilous challenges and to sustain European economies, the European Commission and the International Energy Agency have teamed up to raise the awareness of governments, businesses and related stakeholders about the available options to empower and protect SMEs. These include EU support measures currently available to SMEs that can be tailored to meet their specific needs. They also include steps that businesses can take themselves to use energy more efficiently and wisely, making them more resilient and secure – both in the short and in the long term.

In this document, the sections on setting the scene, what the European Union can do, and what national governments can do were prepared by the European Commission. The section on what small businesses can do was prepared by the International Energy Agency.