Title: Environmental Protection: European Environmental Policy Impacts on SMEs Markus Stahl, HWK Mnchen
1 Environmental ProtectionEuropean
Environmental Policy Impacts on SMEs Markus
Stahl, HWK München
PHARE Business Support Programme of the European
Union UEAPME - SME FIT II
2Structure
- Session Introduction
- A. Introduction to background information
regarding EU environmental policy - Session Checklist
- B. Localization and identification of corporate
need for actionQuestionnaire for SMEs - Session Funding - Support
- C. Focus areas of EU support for SMEs (2007
13) - D. Financial help and counseling by the
commission, especially SMEs - E. Further suggestions for researching
company-specific information
3A. Introduction of background information
- Why do we concern ourselves with European
environmental policy and its effects on small and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)? - Concerns and aims of today
- A. Introduction to and awareness-raising for
demands, chances and risks of European
environmental policy -
- B. Identify and name individual fields of action
for SMEs -
- C. European structural funds and their aims
short portraits - D. Getting to know and discussing concrete
financial help by the European Commission - E. Suggestions for further, company-specific
research
4A. Introduction to European demands and
awareness-raising for chances and risks
- Basic principles of EU-environmental policy
- Prevention and avoidance of ecological pollution
is the basic principle of European environmental
policy - No support of end of pipe- technologies is
intended, but the development and use of - - resource- and environmentally friendly methods,
- - products and services,
- which pursues the aim of introducing and
developing optimized cycles of materials and
processes
5Focus areas of the 6th EAP (2002-2012)
- Climate change
-
- Nature and biological diversity
- Environment and health
- Natural resources and waste
- with seven thematic strategies
- air, waste and recycling, marine environment,
soil, pesticides, natural resources, rural
development
6Ecologically sound corporate action also for
SMEs
- Basis of integrated product policy
- accession of new market segments by developing
new ecologically relevant products and services - Internal use of ecologically relevant materials
- Introduction of environmental stocktaking in
regard to ecological work processes -
- Ecological optimisation of product lifecycles as
a company-wide task of production and
administration
7Legal situation no exceptions for SMEs
- Which responsibilities result from environmental
policy? - Regulations super-ordinate law for all EU-
member states - obligatory for SMEs, e.g.
European regulations have the character of
minimal standards and have to be followed by all.
- Directives are at the moment still facultative
but will in the medium-term after a period of
transition become compulsive as well - e.g. disposal of cars and producer liability for
components. - Thereby they will become obligatory also for SMEs
on a medium-term perspective. - Resolutions
- SMEs which have direct contact with hazardous
substance have to comply to the already existing
resolutions.
8Fields of action in environmental policy for the
EU Commission
- Air and exhaust air
- Prevention and disposal of waste, as well as
recycling e.g. of - batteries - - electronic components
- - oil
- - recycling of cars
- Materials and chemicals
- Water and waste water (incl. resulting heat)
- soil
- Energy resources and optimised use
9e.g. prevention of waste and recycling
- waste management
- - Batteries and und rechargeable batteries
- - packaging
- - electronic components
- - electronic waste
- - oils
- - car-recycling
- e.g by means of
- producer liability/ take-back requirement, etc.
- Which is the legal situation, regulation,
directive or resolution?
10Using environmental aspects as a motor
Objective 1 The future-compatible company in
changed market and technology conditions Objecti
ve 2 Strategic positioning and new positioning
of the whole company for future-oriented
activities This contains the maintenance or the
acquisition of regional and supra-regional
customer groups
11Elements of a production process as part of an
exemplary product cycle
energy
materials
waste and recycling
heat
soil
noise
water/ waste water
air
12Instruments
Aims of integrative environmental policy
Adaptation and/or development of new products
- adaptation and/or development of new services
- procurement and use of new tools and
materials - Revision of corporate process
organisation - introduction of holistic
product/process cycles
13Positive point balance from the point of view of
the company
- Conformity with environmental legislation
- -avoiding penalties, etc.
- Acquisition of new markets (sales and
procurement) - - acquisition of new customers and suppliers
- Realisation of savings potentials in regard to
- - optimised use of finances and resources by
- - improved use of materials and work processes
-
- Reorganisation of operative work through the
introduction of product cycles and recycling of
raw materials - Development of staff through further education
14B. Identifying corporate fields of action
Checklist for SMEs
- Please use the accompanying documents
(checklist for companies) - Instructions for presentation
- 1. step individual work
-
- Please take your checklist and answer the
question in written form. Work through the whole
list from beginning to end. The reference should
be your own company. You have approximately 20
minutes for this. - 2. step work in small groups
- Form work groups of up to 4 persons and discuss
the individual points on the checklist. Talk
about remaining questions and specify on the
basis of exchanging experiences in the group
the individual characteristics of your company.
If necessary add missing information or write
down any questions that remain. You have
approximately 15 minutes for this. - 3. step Suggestion for further work
- Both individual work with the checklist and the
exchange of experiences in the group should be
documented in writing. Before the groups start
working, each group must name a responsible
person and a speaker for the group. - Reporting of on the whole 4-5 corporate cases
or, respectively, the results of group work will
be done later in section 4 Exchange of
experiences about the actual operative situation
15C. Funding Support from EUEuropean funds
(2007 13)
- Which EU support opportunities are there in
support period 2007- 13? - Which approaches to support of an environmentally
sound design of operative work in SMEs can be
identified? - - European Funds for Regional Development
- European Social Funds
- European Cohesion Funds
16European Funds for regional development (EFRE)
- Aim Balancing regional differences in economic
power, increasing competitiveness, innovation,
creation of sustainable jobs and supporting
environmentally relevant growth in the regions,
especially - Long-term jobs in regions with high unemployment
- Infrastructure projects, which support regional
development - Local initiatives which support regional economic
development - Tourism and culture projects
17EUROPEAN SOCIAL FUNDS (ESF)
- Invests in people and jobs
- Improvement of corporate human resources
- Priority of financial support depends on
assignment to a target area 1-4 - New European Member states have high priority and
are currently assigned the highest level of
support
18COHESION FUNDS
- For member states whose gross national product is
less than 90 of the EU-average, measures are
financed, which aim at higher energy efficiency
or trans-European transport networks. - For the support period 2007 2013 the following
countries are eligible - Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic,
- Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania,
- Malta, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania,
- Slovakia and Slovenia
19D. Financial helps and counselling by the
Commission, especially for environmental issues
in SMEs
- Which special programmes are there which offer
further information and support specific projects
for and in SMEs by subsidies? - LIFE plus
- JEREMIE (Joint European Resources for Micro to
Medium Enterprises) -
- CIP (Competitiveness and Innovation framework
Programme) - CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)
-
20LIFE plus
Exemplary Demonstration projects for energy and
environmental concerns Information campaigns for
raising awareness among stakeholders For energy
and environmental concerns (incl. fire
prevention) No research and development
projects, only dissemination projects! Note very
interesting for transnational consortiums of SMEs
and associations
21JEREMIE (2007-2013) Joint European Resources
for Micro to Medium EnterprisesTarget group
SMEs on a regional level companies with less
than 10 or, respectively, 50 employees
annual turnover lower than 2 or, respectively,10
Mio. EUR privately owned production
companies Environmental initiatives are an
important focal area. Also counselling and
technical help are eligible for funding.
22CIP (Framework programme for innovation and
competition)(2007 2013)
- Focus areas
- Energy efficiency and renewable energies
- Promotion of clean energy sources and their use
by SMEs - Access for SMEs through independent evaluators
- Trainings for SME-employees for the development
of environmentally relevant competences
23CSR (Corporate Social Responsability)
- Small and medium-sized enterprises are the
predominant form of enterprise in the European
Union (absolute numbers, contribution to GDP,
contribution to employment). If Europe and its
enterprises are to reap the full benefits of CSR,
it is vital to make sure that SMEs are fully
engaged and that what they do is fully
recognised. This is a particular challenge
because CSR as a term and as a definable business
concept has been created mainly by and for larger
companies. The support and encouragement of CSR
amongst SMEs is one of the priority areas of the
European Commission's policy on CSR. - Internet http//ec.europa.eu/enterprise/csr/sme.h
tm
24 Environmental concerns as integrated programme
and project aims
- in basically all focal areas of action of the
commission, such as e.g. - CSR in the area of operating in social
partnerships -
- Vocational training programmes (Sokrates,
Leonardo, etc.) - Study programmes for trainers
- Note The effort of applying for this is usually
too high for a single SME it is much more
promising to join forces in application-groups or
to let a bigger association partner with
experience in carrying out European projects deal
with the application
25SME-Portal Online- Instrument for SME-Orientation
- http//ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sme - (available
in many languages) - This online-tool presents a choice of current
EU-programmes, which are especially interesting
for SMEs. Under the heading of finances many
hints for application-opportunities for SMEs can
be found. - critical note
- Taking into account the limited resources it
must be asked how an SME can apply with the
chance of success in view of - - missing experience
- - long preparation and preliminary times before
the support starts - - high administrative efforts
- - post-projects efforts for project-controlling
- - the trend towards a preference for big and
leading bidder consortiums?
26Integration principle applies also for
environmental concerns
- According to the integration principle which
applies also for environmental policy,
principally all programmes of the commission are
open to SMEs. - This means that respective environmental aims and
questions of SMEs can be integrated into all
general focus areas (e.g. in the area of the ESF
or special calls for bids in the area of
vocational training).
27Current operative situation
- Instruction for presentation
- in reference to the previous individual and
group work (see section 2) now the third step is
taken, the operative stocktaking by the
participants. - Exemplary reporting and exchange of experiences
in a plenary session regarding the current
operative situation -
- Approximately 4 5 persons as speakers of their
work groups report the results of their operative
stocktaking in regard to environmental questions
unsolved questions from the work in small groups
should also be presented and be discussed by all
participants. - This part of the presentation requires about 30
minutes. If necessary, more time can be given.
The trainer must decide here depending on the
situation (depending on group-size / situation
/motivation of the participants).
28E. Further suggestions for specific research
- Use the training materials for further specific
answers to your unanswered questions! - e.g. useful internet addresses
- SME-programme of the commission (contains many
hints towards possibilities of financial support
and focus areas of support) - can be found on the INTERNET under
- http//www.europa eu environment sme programme
-
- site ec.europa.eu
- - now available in 7 languages
- Register of harmful substances
http//europa.eu.int/comm/environment/ippc/eper.ht
m -
29Additional training components for answering more
detailed and still unsolved questions
- Group work in topic-centred small groups
- Together with company counsellors and technology
experts on the national / regional level - Alternatively individual counselling of SMEs
30Suggestions for further reading
- Contiero, Marco Your Rights Under the
Environmental Legislation of the EU, Brussels
2004 - http//www.dur.de/publikationen/eur/archiv/euro508
-09-sh.pdf?PHPSESSID6f6ae692bd29a106a48ba0dd607e2
414 - European Commission Buying green! A handbook on
environmental public procurement, Luxembourg
2004, http//ec.europa.eu/environment/gpp/pdf/buyi
ng_green_handbook.en.pdf - European Environmental Bureau (EEB)EU
environmental policy Handbook http//www.eeb.org/p
ublication/policy_handbook.htm , can be ordered
at International Books, Grifthoek 151, 3514
Utrecht, Netherlands, i-books_at_antenna.nl,
http//www.antenna.nli-books/ - European Environmental Bureau (EEB) Your Rights
Unter the Environmental Legislation of the EU,
Special Report by the EEB, December 2004,
Brussels - Institute for European Environmental Policy
(Monkhouse, Claire Wilkonson, David Herodes,
Martina Hjerb. Peter) Environmental Compliance
Assistance for SMEs. Analysis of Specific
Initiatives 41 National and Local Level and
Identification of best Practices. Final Report
2006 - http//ec.europa.eu/environment/sme/pdf/sme_final_
report_en.pdf - Scheer, Hermann et al. Handbook of Renewable
Energies in the European Union. Case studies of
the EU - 15 States, Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt
am Main, 2. Aufl., 2005 (auch DVD)
31Thank you!Environmental ProtectionEuropean
Environmental Policy Impacts on SMEs Markus
Stahl, HWK München
PHARE Business Support Programme of the European
Union UEAPME - SME FIT II