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The current geopolitical landscape of the European Union has made it clear that the energy sector must be a top priority in EU policy, especially in light of the sudden escalation of Russian–Ukrainian conflicts. Energy efficiency has been used as the first tool of EU policy to tackle energy and climate crises, given the issues surrounding energy vulnerability and the need to limit gas emissions that contribute to climate change. The white certificate mechanism in Italy has played a pivotal role in encouraging measures to achieve the country's energy-saving goals. Given the high energy requirements of Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs), especially for aeration in the biological section, this paper examines the replacement of the air distribution system for a large WWTP as a viable intervention. In order to provide economic perspective for the plant, both the discounted Payback Period (dPBP) and the Net Present Value (NPV) were calculated for the investment. When viewed through an economic lens, the dPBP metric exhibits values that span from less than 1 year to nearly 4.5 years. Additionally, the investment's cost-effectiveness was emphasized by the NPV, which, depending on the factors considered, can exceed 17.5 million euros. Finally, given the centrality of the theme of climate change, the avoided greenhouse gas emissions generated by the efficiency intervention were calculated, according to the GHG Protocol, resulting in a quantity of avoided emissions equivalent to over 57,770 tonnes of CO2e. These results highlight important achievements in terms of both the cost-effectiveness of the plant and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change, due to anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases, is driving policymakers to make decisions to promote more efficient energy use. Improved industrial energy efficiency is said to play a key role in the transition to more carbon-neutral energy systems. In most countries, industrial small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent 95% or more of the total number of companies. Thus, SMEs, apart from using energy, are a major driver in the economy with regard to innovation, GDP growth, employment, investments, exports, etc. Despite this, research and policy activities related to SMEs have been scarce, calling for contributions in the field. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to critically assess how adequate energy efficiency policy programmes for industrial SMEs could be designed. Results show that scientific publications in the field differ in scope and origin, but a major emphasis of the scientific papers has been on barriers to and drivers for energy efficiency. Scientific contributions from studies of energy policy programmes primarily cover energy audit programmes and show that the major energy efficiency measures from industrial SMEs are found in support processes. The review further reveals an imbalance in geographic scope of the papers within the field, where a vast majority of the papers emanate from Europe, calling for scientific publications from other parts of the world. The study synthesizes the findings into a general method on how to design efficiency programs for the sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]