{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,30]],"date-time":"2026-10-30T17:37:11Z","timestamp":1793381831560,"version":"4.5.0"},"update-to":[{"DOI":"10.12688\/openreseurope.23303.1","type":"new_version","label":"New version","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,6]],"date-time":"2026-10-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791244800000}}],"reference-count":19,"publisher":"CERN","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,6]],"date-time":"2026-10-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791244800000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"European Commission","award":["101017436"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["101017436"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00k4n6c32","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera","award":["GIR24\/51andINDI24\/17"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GIR24\/51andINDI24\/17"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01tnh0829","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"name":"Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovaci\u00f3n y Universidades","award":["PID2023-150137OB-I00"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PID2023-150137OB-I00"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/05r0vyz12","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Open Res Europe"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\n                    Environmental sustainability and energy savings are crucial for economic development, yet European SMEs account for 63.3% of total CO2 firms emissions. Understanding how these businesses behave when transitioning to a Circular Economy is essential for policymakers to design appropriate measures and incentives for preventing negative environmental externalities.\n                \n                \n                    Methods\n                    The study analyzed data from the fifth wave of the \u201cSMEs, resource efficiency, and green markets\u201d survey conducted in late 2021, which included 14,008 enterprises across 27 European Union member states. To categorize the companies, researchers applied a K-modes clustering algorithm\u2014a machine learning method designed specifically for categorical data\u2014 to evaluate six qualitative business characteristics and nine environmental actions.\n                \n                \n                    Results\n                    The analysis identified three distinct business behavior clusters. Cluster 1 (6,195 firms) primarily provides services to other businesses and focuses heavily on energy savings and waste minimization. Cluster 2 (4,002 firms) is the least environmentally proactive group, predominantly selling products directly to consumers, with 21.14% taking no environmental action at all. Cluster 3 (3,811 firms) is the most active and diverse group, exhibiting the highest participation in minimizing waste and saving energy but also reporting the most difficulties. Regardless of the cluster, the primary barrier to sustainability is the complexity of administrative or legal procedures, followed by the high costs of environmental actions. Consequently, the support most requested by these companies consists of grants or subsidies along with greater cooperation between companies across sectors and consultancy.\n                \n                \n                    Conclusions\n                    The transition to sustainable practices remains a significant challenge for most European SMEs, who often perceive current macro-level environmental regulations (such as the Circular Economy Action Plan) as bureaucratic hurdles rather than sources of help. To effectively foster a sustainable economy, policymakers must focus on simplifying administrative procedures, providing financial support, and encouraging inter-firm cooperation and technological consultancy.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.12688\/openreseurope.23303.2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,6]],"date-time":"2026-10-06T07:49:06Z","timestamp":1791272946000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.68336\/openreseurope.updatepolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["How are European small enterprises dealing with the circular economy?"],"prefix":"10.68336","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5342-3320","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Maria Pilar","family":"Garc\u00eda-Alcober","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera Departamento de Economia y Empresa, Alfara del Patriarca, Valencian Community, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ana Isabel","family":"Mateos-Ans\u00f3tegui","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera Departamento de Economia y Empresa, Alfara del Patriarca, Valencian Community, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6406-9619","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Mar\u00eda Teresa","family":"Pastor-Gos\u00e1lbez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera Departamento de Economia y Empresa, Alfara del Patriarca, Valencian Community, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4776-7631","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Josep","family":"Navarro-Ortiz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Universitat de Valencia, Valencia, Valencian Community, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"13904","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"111425","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecolecon.2024.108345"},{"key":"111426","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eswa.2009.01.060"},{"key":"111427","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jenvman.2022.115937"},{"key":"111428","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclepro.2019.01.180"},{"key":"111429","unstructured":"European Commission: Closing the loop\u2014An EU action plan for the circular economy. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions;2015."},{"key":"111430","unstructured":"European Commission: A new Circular Economy Action Plan for a cleaner and more competitive Europe. 2020. Reference Source (https:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/legal-content\/EN\/TXT\/?uri=CELEX%3A52020DC0098)"},{"key":"111431","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4232\/1.13934"},{"key":"111432","unstructured":"European Commission: Annual Report on European SMEs 2021\/22. SMEs and environmental sustainability. Brussels:2022b; vol. 2022."},{"key":"111433","unstructured":"European Parliament and Council: Regulation (EU) 2024\/1252 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 April 2024 Establishing a Framework for Ensuring a Secure and Sustainable Supply of Critical Raw Materials and Amending Regulations (EU) no 168\/2013, (EU) 2018\/858, (EU) 2018\/17. Off. J. Eur. Union. 2024; 2024: 1\u201367."},{"key":"111434","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph16050851"},{"key":"111435","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5281\/zenodo.19591312"},{"key":"111436","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclepro.2015.09.007"},{"key":"111437","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/su13137158"},{"key":"111438","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/00207543.2017.1402141"},{"key":"111439","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecolecon.2018.04.028"},{"key":"111440","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/09537287.2018.1449246"},{"key":"111441","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/su8111212"},{"key":"111442","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/02697459.2019.1703335"},{"key":"111443","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/1331677X.2022.2093767"}],"container-title":["Open Research Europe"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu\/articles\/6-163\/v2\/xml","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/ore.eu\/ore\/article\/download\/1358\/version\/2304\/4605","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/ore.eu\/ore\/article\/download\/1358\/version\/2304\/4606","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/ore.eu\/ore\/article\/download\/1358\/version\/2304\/4605","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,30]],"date-time":"2026-10-30T17:13:02Z","timestamp":1793380382000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/ore.eu\/ore\/article\/view\/1358\/version\/2304"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,6]]},"references-count":19,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.12688\/openreseurope.23303.2","relation":{"is-version-of":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.12688\/openreseurope.23303.1","asserted-by":"subject"}],"has-review":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.21956\/openreseurope.27144.r82634","asserted-by":"object"}]},"ISSN":["2732-5121"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2732-5121","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,6]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2026-10-06","name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"Ana Isabel Mateos Ans\u00f3tegui and Mar\u00eda Teresa Pastor Gos\u00e1lbez acknowledge the support of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities  Project \u201cLa determinaci\u00f3n de precios del carbono en sectores estrat\u00e9gicos de la UE: utilizaci\u00f3n conjunta de instrumentos regulatorios y fiscales en la lucha contra el cambio clim\u00e1tico\u201d [Carbon pricing in EU strategic sectors: using regulatory and fiscal instruments together in the fight against climate change] (PID2023-150137OB-I00 funded by MCIU\/AEI\/10.13039\/501100011033 and FSE+). Mar\u00eda P. Garcia-Alcober and Mar\u00eda Teresa Pastor acknowledge the support of the University of CEU Cardenal Herrera Projects GIR24\/51 and INDI24\/17. The authors acknowledge support from the European Union\u2019s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme under grant agreement No. [101017436]. \n\n                    The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.","name":"funding_statement","label":"Funding Statement","group":{"name":"funding_information","label":"Funding Information"}}],"article-number":"163"}}