How do environmental labels helps SMEs

innovate? Cliona Howie

European Project Manager and Environmental Advisor

Chamber of Commerce of Cantabria, northern SPAIN

Chamber of Commerce of Cantabria http://www.camaracantabria.com/

European Project Manager and Environmental Advisor Background: Environmental consultant with exprience in the USA, UK and Spain

• Sustainable Business Advisory Services to SMEs • Environmental Impact Asssesment • Strategic Environmental Assessment • Sustainability Appraisal • Aquatic Ecology • Land Use Planning

Coordinator of Environmental EU projects: delivering services to SMEs in order to reduce environmental impacts

• EMAS/ISO • Ecodesign • Eco Labels • Resource efficiency audits

Environmental Advisor for regional SMEs

• EMAS/ISO • Ecodesign • Eco Labels • Resource efficiency audits

Cliona Howie

Enterprise Europe Network http://een.ec.europa.eu/ Helping small companies make the most of the business opportunities in the European Union is the Enterprise Europe Network's mission. - Find international business partners - Source new technologies (technology transfer) - Help secure EU funding or finance - Business advisory services (intellectual property, going international, or EU

law and standards

A one-stop shop for business needs - Business support organisations from more than 50 countries, 600 member

organisations - Connected powerful databases

Cliona Howie

Chairperson of the Enterprise Europe Network Sector Group Environment • 50 SME intermediaries that are environmental professionals

• 21 countries

• Personalised service: 1000 SME clients

• Organise brokerage events to help SMEs reach technology transfer or

cooperation agreements with other companies ** The Sector Groups often form the link between the Enterprise Europe Network and other European actors and projects, including European Technology Platforms, Europe INNOVA projects and Business Innovation Centres (BICs) as well as research-driven clusters and National Contact Points of the European Commission's Horizon 2020 Programme.

Cliona Howie

Are you a small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) looking to expand your business? IF SO: Eco Labels can enhance your business as they have done for thousands of other small enterprises before you.

** product labelling schemes could drive green innovation

Cliona Howie

“Standards make market access easier, in particular for SMEs. They can enhance brand recognition and give customers the

guarantee that the technology is tested and reliable”.

Jens Albens CEO Nanotron Technologies Ltd, Germany

What can Eco Labels do for you?

Why do I encourage my SME clients to pursue Environmental Labels? **encourage a improvement of SME environmental performance • offer a potential point of difference and a competitive advantage • provide a powerful opportunity in new markets • For manufacturers, making eco-friendly products can make commercial

sense

Cliona Howie

1 help improve the quality of your goods and services  2 help drive growth, cut costs and increase profits  3 give business a competitive edge  4 open up export markets for goods and services  5 open doors to new customers and strengthen existing business  6 help to compete with bigger enterprises  7 enhance credibility and secure customer confidence  8 sharpen business processes and increase efficiency  9 strengthen the marketing pitch  10 help comply with regulations 

I0 reasons why Eco Labels help SMEs INNOVATE

Cliona Howie

1 Eco Labels help you improve the quality of your goods and services Running a business that provides specialized services calls for knowledge of various rigorous technical standards, which in turn helps improve the quality of a SME´s products. * commitment to the standardization process can give a company the opportunity to contribute to the development of standards AND IN TURN reassures clients as to the quality of a company´s services

Cliona Howie

2 Eco Labels help drive growth, cut costs and increase profits Now is a time of strong international growth, so taking part in EU or other international labels will mean SMEs can more easily adapt products to existing and future international regulations.

Naturally, implementing a voluntary scheme represents a cost for any company, but, marketed well, these can be recouped. Eco Labels can help find new markets for products and improve and secure production and handling.

Cliona Howie

3 Eco Labels give your business a competitive edge Adhering to an accountable environmental labeling and management scheme demonstrates high standards to clients particularly when seeking new, larger clients, who request audited proof of methods and standards of practice. Eco labels keeps a SME at the cutting edge with regard to the quality of products and services, which in turn maintains good customer relations, business confidence, output and profit.

Cliona Howie

4 Eco Labels open up export markets for your goods and services Harmonized and credible standards make market access easier, particularly for SMEs, due to reduced cost and time to market. Eco Label standards can enhance brand recognition and aid in giving customers the confidence that the product is tested and reliable.

****sustainability standards-setting + branding……..…all underpinned by the credibility of an independent body

Cliona Howie

5 Eco Labels open doors to new customers and strengthen your existing business Solid foundations are the makings of a good business and Eco Labels are a good tool that SMEs can use to provide this strong base and expand their clientele and create business opportunities. Applying environmental labeling and management schemes to a small business leads to improved the quality of processes and decreased costs incurred by inefficient practices.

**More and more consumers want to ”shop their values”

Cliona Howie

6 Eco Labels help you compete with bigger enterprises Small companies have large competitor—this requires many SMEs to produce a level of quality that exceeds what the competition is doing. Environmental schemes are a valuable tool for managing scalability in the supply chain, helping to optimise productivity and competitiveness.

Cliona Howie

7 Eco Labels enhance credibility and secure customer confidence With constant innovation and creativity in our products and services due to the implementation of Eco labeling or certification, SMEs aspire to build a stronger, more resilient and more sustainable business to safeguard the interests of our customers and other stakeholders. Achieving certification enhances credibility as a preferred supplier and give customers peace of mind when carrying out business.

Customers have demonstrated that they are more likely to buy products and services from

companies they trust

Cliona Howie

8 Eco Labels sharpen your business processes and increase efficiency Despite SMEs being engaged in a process of sustainable development through various business activities, many still lack the tools to enhance credibility and showcase beliefs and commitment. With certification, SMEs are able to meet these goals and involve their partners, suppliers in a common objective. Thus often environmental schemes are the catalyst that enables companies to evolve and integrate all their stakeholders in what was their original long-term vision for sustainable business management.

Cliona Howie

9 Eco Labels strengthen a company´s marketing pitch Eco Labels represent an important quality benchmark as they help to define compliance with many performance aspects critical to success. Meeting these requirements help support the marketing approach of ‘always placing customers and quality first’ – and it therefore reinforces a company´s selling proposition in a competitive environment.

Cliona Howie

10 Eco Labels help SMEs comply with regulations Eco labeling and management schemes help SMEs comply with regulations – in conjunction with third-party certification by an accredited certification body – BUT, they also assist SMEs demonstrate to potential customers and authorities that they are doing things ‘by the book’ and providing quality products or services. **particularly important for SMEs that specialise in activity that may have related health dangers

Cliona Howie

But do Eco Labels help SMEs INNOVATE?

What does it mean to Innovate?

Innovation generally refers to changing or creating more effective processes, products and ideas, and can increase the likelihood of a business succeeding. Businesses that innovate create more efficient work processes and have better productivity and performance. For businesses, this could mean implementing new ideas, creating dynamic products or improving your existing services. Innovation can be a catalyst for the growth and success of your business, and help you adapt and grow in the marketplace. Being innovative does not mean inventing; innovation can mean changing your business model and adapting to changes in your environment to deliver better products or services. Successful innovation should be an in-built part of your business strategy, where you create a culture of innovation and lead the way in innovative thinking and creative problem solving.

Cliona Howie

So……… Eco-Innovation means….Smart Business?

“sustainability and business go together”

ECO innovation is driven from innovation related to societal issues

• Leaner manufacturing: improved resource efficiency

• Closing the loop: pushing waste to resource initiatives

• Value Chain Approach: better sourced raw materiales

• Ecodesign: leading to increased market value of byproducts

POTENTIAL = solving large global issues will uncover large global markets.

Cliona Howie

SO! DO Eco Labels help SMEs INNOVATE?

• Life Cycle Analysis

• Ecodesign

• Supply Chain Evaluation

• Product Line Analysis

• Sustainability Appraisal

• Carbon Footprint Study

• Cradle to Cradle Assessments

PRO ACTIVE commitment that require INNOVATION

Cliona Howie

. 1. Position the “sustainability department” as a part of Business

Development.

2. A company’s design principles need to successfully integrate sustainability into the core of the business.

3. Drive strategy from societal issues

4. Improve business 2 customer communication tools TRANSPARENCY

Dare to lead - Because the future is created by you Trust and earn trust - Because nothing beats a circle of trust Connect to create - Because the world is full of ideas Unlock passion - Because passion makes dreams come alive

Keys to success?

Cliona Howie

For small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs), standards can help to: Build customer confidence that your products are safe and reliable (both for consumers and within the supply chain) Meet regulation requirements, at a lower cost Stand out from the crowd and establish prestige amongst competitor Reduce costs across all aspects of your business (resource efficiency) Gain market access across the world

What are the rewards?

Cliona Howie

Success stories

POZZI LEOPOLDO SRL: A CASE STUDY OF ETV

Product RCR – a rotating heat recovery system for highly polluted effluents

Although several thousand such units have already been sold in all continents and improvements have been added to RCR over the years in order to make it a renewed and mature product, what RCR was more recently lacking was the proof of what makes this heat recovery system really different from all others: this product is not affected by fouling and really allows for constantly efficient energy saving. This performance characteristic was not fully covered by existing certification standards. No one had ever thought of testing the resistance to fouling of a machine to certify its performance rating. ETV has allowed to pin point those parameters which could become a standard verification procedure in similar cases, emphasizing the added value represented by the fouling-free ability of RCR.

Cliona Howie

The need to question and to evolve the eco-label model is becoming more acute as global companies

begin committing to audacious, long-term sustainability goals and need to find effective ways of delivering, as well as credible ways of communicating

what they've done.

Food for Thought

SME confusion TOO MANY LABELS EU Eco Label TOO GENERIC, not sector or activity related

Cliona Howie

• Know themselves

• Know their strategies

• Know their audience These 3 things will be key in making a huge shift in their ability to mark the difference they desire and stand out from competitors.

“If you dont find a new approach, you will eventualy quit”

What advice should we give SMEs in this big world of Eco Labels?

Cliona Howie

Cliona Howie

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION !!

Cliona Howie chowie@camaracantabria.com