How can Europe best support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in tackling the challenges of the energy crisis? This session, co-hosted by European Commission’s Directorate General Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs and the Directorate General for Energy, aims at exploring the current regulatory environment on energy efficiency and uncovering the tools available to empower and support SMEs in their path towards energy resilience. 

The panel will touch upon three fundamental areas of the transition towards sustainability, namely (i) the current energy policy regulations and their impacts on SMEs, (ii) the existing practical tools to support SMEs in their green transition and their experiences, and (iii) the digital solutions enabling SME’s green transition. 

Agenda:  

As part of the proposed agenda, the Directorate General for Energy will kick off the panel setting the policy and legal framework on energy efficiency, including the recent initiatives to tackle the energy crisis. Then, it will be the turn of the Enterprise Europe Network sharing with the audience a new pilot initiative giving direct support to SME to invest in energy efficiency projects via a system of vouchers.   

Scoping into more concrete initiatives, we will learn the fundamental role that energy audits can have for SMEs thanks to the results and the use cases shared by a representative of the Horizon Project DEESME. We will then get to know more stories of SMEs committed to stepping up their contribution to a clean energy transition thanks to the presentation of the new Covenant of Companies for Climate and Energy initiative. 

Finally, Digital Europe, the largest association of Digital Companies in Europe, will provide not only an overview, but also concrete examples of how digitalisation can be an enabler for energy efficiency, resilience and sustainability.