€12.5 million from EBRD
to boost resource efficiency

Includes grants and advisory services

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Union (EU) have launched a nine-year program worth €12.5 million ($13.6 million) to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) improve their resource efficiency and adopt circularity measures.

The circularity principle involves preventing materials from becoming waste for as long as possible through reuse, repair, recycling, and other means.

The program will provide bespoke advisory services to help SMEs identify suitable solutions to improve their use of resources and adopt circularity approaches. It also involves capacity-building activities to help raise awareness of the commercial viability of resource efficiency and circularity projects.

“The Bank will deploy EU funds to enhance the sustainability practices of Lebanese SMEs and help them adopt circularity approaches through three main tools: capacity building, tailored advisory services, and grants to support the adoption of technologies and solutions,” EBRD in a statement.

Selected SMEs will receive EU-funded resource efficiency and circularity grants to help them install pre-identified projects. The program will help businesses in the industrial sector, primarily in the food and beverage value chain, become more sustainable and reduce their carbon emissions.