Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent a critical segment of the

global economy and are widely acknowledged as the backbone of industrial

activities, contributing significantly to employment, innovation, and economic

performance. In Europe alone there are 25 million SMEs contributing to almost

half of Europe’s GDP while employing 100 million people. Yet, their potential

for energy efficiency improvements remains largely unexplored due to

persistent economic and technical barriers. This thesis investigates the global

financial schemes available to SMEs for implementing energy efficiency

initiatives within regions such as European Union (EU), Asia, Africa, Middle

East, etc., with the objective of developing a structured decision-making

framework to guide energy managers in selecting optimal financial schemes for

their energy efficiency initiatives. A systematic literature review (SLR) was

conducted to map and analyze the four main funding options including ‘financial

schemes’, ‘funding mechanisms’, ‘financial mechanisms’ and ‘type of support’

relevant to industrial SMEs. The study covers 50 articles and categorizes

findings into financial mechanisms such as government policy instruments,

private financing, and public-private partnerships (PPPs). The analysis

identified regional context and variation in financing sector, influenced by

regulatory frameworks, market maturity, and institutional bodies. The

application of the framework was demonstrated through a German case

example, to verify its applicability, illustrating a step-by-step approach from

region identity as step 1 to final selection of optimal financial scheme and

financial instrument as step 6. The findings highlight the importance of

searching the optimal financing solution that addresses economic barriers and

other SME-specific constraints. The study results in offering a conceptualized

decision-making framework for SMEs energy efficiency financing (EEF) within

the EU. Future work of the project could focus on empirically testing the

decision-making framework through pilot projects in EU member states to

evaluate its applicability and sector-specific adaptability. Later, expanding the

scope beyond the EU to include emerging economies, along with SME

interviews and stakeholder workshops, to further strengthen the framework’s

validity and transferability.