SMEs have an important role in the global economy. Although
their contribution varies from country to country, they globally
constitute 70% of domestic gross national product (O’Laoire and
Welford, 1996 cited in Ilomäki and Melanen (2001)). This type of
enterprise (with less than 200 employees) comprises 99% of all
businesses in the European Union and 85% of the gross national
product. They pollute the environment during their activities but
they are often not aware of their impact (Mitchell et al., 2011).
Redmond et al. (2008) determined that 39% of small businesses
(with 1–20 employees) believe they have no effect on the environment
(Redmond et al., 2008). Only 24% of SMEs in the European
Union are engaged in activities to mitigate their effects on the