Environmental management system implementation by SMEs: EU experience and perspectives

An ever-increasing number of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are gaining interest in environmental management systems (EMS). Today, eco-management standards are beginning to spread through the unbounded universe of medium, small and very small enterprises, which represent more than 80% of the total number of enterprises operating in Europe and are the true backbone of its industrial system. How are these SMEs facing the new challenge of environmental management? What difficulties and drawbacks do they have to tackle and what benefits and advantages should they expect from the implementation of an EMS? This paper aims at proposing some early answers to these relevant questions, that many SMEs are asking themselves before accepting the challenge. Managing the environmental aspects of their activities according to a systemic and preventive approach implies for most SMEs a considerable effort in terms of human, financial and technical resources, regardless of the specific industrial context or country in which they operate. Constraints and drawbacks as to resource availability could compromise SME participation in voluntary programmes, like the European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), as well as their adoption of the ISO 14001 standard. These kinds of voluntary schemes