EU grants P65 million for SME green mentoring program

CEBU, Philippines - Seeing Cebu’s potential to capture the increasing number of European “green shoppers, the European Commission released a P65 million grant aimed to promote and help small medium exporters fully adopt green operations in their companies. 

At least 450 SME exporters in Cebu will benefit from the three-year SMART-Cebu (SMEs for Environment Accountability, Responsibility, and Transparency) program, which is aimed at mentoring exporters in pursuing legitimate green or environmentally-friendly operations.

The Smart-Cebu program immediately kicked off after it was launched last Wednesday, February 24, 2010. It is part of the 4.5 million Euro or approximately P300 million grants allocated for the Philippines in several industries, such as tourism in Palawan, and local SMEs in Metro Manila.

In Cebu, three industries have been identified to benefit this program, these are the furniture, fashion jewelry and gifts-toys-and-houseware making sectors.

The EU awarded close to one million Euro (or approximately P65 million) grant to support the greening of Cebu industries and to help Cebu position itself as an important player in the “green” markets of Europe and Asia.

Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines environment and sustainable development officer Matthieu Penot said that SMEs in the export sector in Cebu need to embrace fully on ‘green manufacturing’ as there is now a growing number of consumers demanding products that are produced through environment-friendly system.

According to Penot the European Commission has recognized Cebu’s export industry in the furniture, fashion accessory and GTH, as the fastest growing sectors in the Philippines, being able to thrive amid the challenging market environment brought about by the global recession.

In a speech delivered by Penot, in behalf of EU Ambassador to the Alistair A. McDonald, he said that this entire grant, under the Switch Asia regional program funded by the EU was launched based on the following observations, that the Asian industrial sector, especially among SMEs, is often characterized by outdated technology, a lack of preventive maintenance and inefficient use of raw materials.

The Smart Cebu project aims at increasing environmentally-friendly technologies and practices among SMEs, and switch to consumption of products that are less environmentally damaging.

“Consuming less energy is not just good for environment, it is something tangible for business owners who reduce their utility bills,” McDonald emphasized in his page.

Moreover, he said that eco-friendly labels are not just a fancy foreign concept “if they add value to products and have the potential to boost sales proceeds.”

Smart-Cebu will be managed by a Germany-based non-government organization and international consulting firm called SEQUA.

SEQUA will be responsible for developing the capability of Cebu Business Membership organizations or BMOs to undertake the advocacy to promote sustainable consumption and production of Cebu among their member SMEs.

Another dimension of the technical program, is the greening of the supply chain which will encourage cleaner production processes, the use of eco-friendly intermediary inputs, and the promotion of a safer environment for Cebu workers.

European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP-Cebu Council) chairman Sabino Dapat said that with this program, Cebu industries are again taking the challenge of transforming themselves into an industry that could better serve the fast emerging market for sustainable living or Green markets.

The 27 EU member countries include; Belgium, France, (West) Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland, UK, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, and Bulgaria.