There are many challenges to engage SMEs into becoming more climate neutral, many do not have the resources (wether it is in terms of staff, costs and/or time) to implement adapted measures to make their company more energy efficient.
What DEESME 2050 has been working on, is to provide tailored tools to SMEs across Bulgaria, France, Italy and Poland to help them assess and adapt their energy consumption and practices to reach climate goals. The work has been challenging, but helping companies to gain better awareness of how they consume energy in their daily work has proven to be fruitful, the project has gathered testimonies from SMEs in France and Italy to showcase how the audits provided by DEESME 2050 were the tailored approach they needed to become more energy efficient.
The main points gathered from the testimonies highlight that energy audits raised awareness on climate impact and the importance of having a strandard to environmental commitment.
The tools offered helped the SMEs understand the benefits of energy efficiency and how to implement these measures. They were also able to identify the most energy consuming elements within their daily work, which were not always the ones employees expected, which further helped them take targeted actions, and in the French case : get them to maintain their prestigious label which now has environmtal criteria.
Finally, it was highlighted that most SMEs do not have the staff effort to undertake this work, so DEESME 2050 was a direct support to give them the right tools adapted to their needs, to give insight on the monitoring and management of their energy consumption.
Testimony by Frédéric Volpon from Volpon Ebeniste, French SME in the furniture sector
Testimony from Alessandro Marchesan, from Grossolegno, Italian SME in the Wood sector
