Hanoi (VNA) - Small-and medium–sized enterprises (SMEs) in industrial production were urged todevelop green growth strategies to improve business efficiency and protect theenvironment, experts said at a conference held by the Central Institute forEconomic Management (CIEM) on November 29. Trinh Duc Chieu, Deputy Head ofCIEM’s Corporate Development and Reform Department, said that a large number ofSMEs still used outdated and energy-consuming technologies, despite theGovernment’s push to promote green growth. Chieu cited a survey that found 75percent of processing and manufacturing enterprises in Hanoi said that theirenergy consumption was higher than the world’s average. In 2015, 53 percent of companies inthe processing and manufacturing industry used technologies which were developedmore than six years ago and only 14 percent invested in technologies that hadhit the market within the three most recent years. In addition, most SMEs did notconduct reports on their energy consumption and their awareness about theimportance of using energy efficiently remained low. SMEs made up around 17 percent ofcompanies operating in the manufacturing and processing industry – the sectorwhich consumed the most energy, accounting for 43 percent of the country’stotal energy consumption. According to Chieu, the lack ofsupport and inconsistencies in policies has not encouraged SMEs to use energymore efficiently. Besides, the development of renewable energies stilldramatically lags behind demand. “It is important for SMEs to enhanceenergy use efficiency, which will help cut production costs, improve quality,increase profits and develop in a sustainable way,” Chieu said. Moving towards green growth, usingnatural resources and energy more efficiently, will increase resilience toclimate change. Chieu said the legal framework onenergy must be improved to encourage energy efficiency and prod SMEs to shifttowards renewable energies. According to Nguyen Dinh Khuyen fromthe General Statistics Office, an energy data system should be developed toprovide information for analysis in order to craft appropriate policies. At the conference, experts also said that taxand credit policies should be established to encourage the development and useof renewable energies and so that SMEs will update their technologies.-VNA