Becoming sustainable: How the Energy Check-up helps SMEs

Saving energy has never been as vital as it is today. After all, Switzerland is aiming for carbon-neutrality by 2050. To achieve this goal is going to take a lot of work. The nearly 600,000* SMEs in Switzerland can make a valuable contribution to meeting this target – and cut their costs in the process.

UBS has been in partnership with EnAW for ten years. The Energy Agency for Industry (EnAW) is an initiative founded in 1999 by Swiss industry associations. Its mission is to optimize the energy balance of Swiss companies and thus promote climate protection.

Jenny Zwahlen from UBS – responsible for sustainability initiatives – and Rochus Burtscher – board member of EnAW – explain why Swiss SMEs should now do the EnAW Energy Check-up and how UBS supports its clients in this process:

* Federal Statistical Office figures, data valid as per August 2022

Jenny Zwahlen: If we are going to solve the climate-change-related challenges facing us, transparency and innovation are essential. Society must change its thinking and everyone needs to support each other in implementing the transformation. Where sustainability is concerned, we are only really strong together. In order to drive the process of transition towards greater sustainability, UBS works with partners as well as sustainability pioneers. One of these partnerships is with the Energy Agency for Industry:

We launched the collaboration with EnAW ten years ago with the aim of supporting SME clients in their sustainability transformation. This partnership serves to help them to achieve their energy-saving potential, cut carbon emissions and become more cost-efficient in the process.

Rochus Burtscher: Our goal is to make and keep companies in Switzerland fit in energy terms. We have more than 100 specialists out there advising Swiss companies individually on how they can use energy and resources more efficiently. We have already supported over 4,700 businesses. Together, these companies managed to reduce their carbon emission by almost 800,000 tons last year and have saved almost one billion Swiss francs in energy costs since EnAW has been founded.

Rochus Burtscher: It is in every company’s own interest to keep the production costs of their products or services low – after all, this helps them to remain competitive. So companies often ask us questions such as “How can I reduce energy costs without compromising the quality of my product?” But what is also interesting is that they ask questions like “What can I do to comply with cantonal and national regulations and produce sustainably?”.

Rochus Burtscher: Many Swiss companies are already very energy-efficient by international standards. But there is always room for improvement.

"Usually, the devil is in the detail or, put another way, in the processes." If the company is open to our outsider’s perspective, we are able to point out hidden savings potential that the company can exploit. Often, a great deal can be achieved with the implementation of simple and inexpensive measures such as behavioral changes, the correct adjustment of the heating curve or by switching to LED lighting.

Rochus Burtscher: As soon as a company takes out a membership with the Energy Agency for Industry, we send out an experienced engineer to do an Energy Check-up with the company in the form of a site inspection. All energy data is collected to determine and assess how much energy can be saved. In other words, we determine the current energy status of the company from the basement to the roof.

On this basis, we draft a list of proposed measures to reduce carbon emissions and increase energy efficiency, tailored specifically to the company. A distinction is drawn between "economic" and "non-economic" measures. ‘Economic’ measures are those where the payback period for investments in the process and production sector is a maximum of four years; and in the building sector, building services and infrastructure, a maximum of eight years. Measures with longer payback times – the ‘non-economic’ ones – can be implemented via funding programs.

We work with the company to develop a target agreement that outlines what measures the company would like to use to achieve what results. Once a year, we look at whether the company is still on track in their implementation of the energy-saving measures. If the company reaches the agreed targets, it is awarded the EnAW label. 

Jenny Zwahlen: We pay half of the EnAW membership fee in the first year and support the companies with financial solutions to help them implement the proposed measures mentioned above. We have supported several hundred UBS clients already to date. Besides consuming energy more efficiently and reducing carbon emissions by several tons, all our customers together have also saved several million Swiss francs through the Energy Check-up.

Thus our partnership with EnAW is not only positive for the environment, but is also an economically sustainable step for SMEs. What is particularly pleasing to see is that many of our customers have even exceeded their target agreements using the EnAW’s proposed measures.

Rochus Burtscher: It is beneficial for any company, whether it’s small, medium or large. The good thing about the Check-up is that it raises awareness about energy. We have found that this automatically changes how people handle resources.

The proposed measures can take many different forms and are tailored to the company in question. They often have to do with areas such as lighting, heating, and product or process measures, for example. Our proposals are not set in stone. Active and regular dialogue between the EnAW advisor and the entrepreneur is important. Over the past 22 years, we have built up a large pool of know-how with our network of over one hundred consultants. This represents a wealth of practical experience that our members can depend on. Experience has shown that companies can save at least one year’s energy costs with a ten-year target agreement.

Jenny Zwahlen: Switzerland has set itself the goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2050. Nearly 99% of the companies in Switzerland are SMEs, so their contribution is relevant to achieving the goals. It is important to us to support our SME customers – where we can – in the area of sustainability. We do this through the ongoing development of our own SME products and services or through support services with the help of our partners.

Jenny Zwahlen:We have defined clear measures to make us more sustainable as a company. For example, we want our own business operations to be net zero by 2025. We already obtain 100% of our electricity from renewable sources and are looking to cut our own energy consumption by 15% by 2025 compared to 2020 levels.

We address social challenges through our philanthropic engagement and with the commitment of our staff. We want to raise one billion US dollars in donations by 2025, for example, and benefit 25 million people.

Find out more about our engagement for sustainability here.