Through the SOS project the consortium intended to and successfully equipped micro-enterprises with accessible tools and resources to take concrete steps toward sustainability, contributing to a more resilient and greener EU economy. The project aimed at and achieved its four core objectives: 1. Awareness and understanding: Over 75 micro-enterprises directly increased awareness of sustainable practices through the SOS Starter Kit, which simplified key concepts and shared relatable success stories. 2. Knowledge and skills: The Action Plan App enabled users to assess their sustainability performance and generate customised action plans. 3. Practice and collaboration: The Sustainability Networking Hub fostered peer learning and exchange among 150+ users, supporting real-world implementation. 4. Dissemination and legacy: The Share and Sustain Strategy ensured long-term access and use of results by VET trainers, educators and enterprise-support organisations. These achievements directly advanced EU Green Deal and SME Strategy priorities by embedding digital, innovative and inclusive approaches into sustainability education.
The SOS project addressed the urgent need for practical sustainability support among Europe’s micro-enterprises (MEs), which represent the majority of SMEs’ environmental impact but often lack the tools and strategies to act. At project start, only 13% of EU SMEs had a sustainability plan. Through SOS, the consortium developed three core outputs: - The SOS Starter Kit - The SOS Action Plan App, and - Sustainability Networking Hub, creating an accessible, step-by-step pathway for small businesses to begin their sustainability transition. More than 75 micro-enterprises and 38 VET trainers participated in pilot testing across Work packages, providing direct feedback to make the resources developed through the SOS project to be, a) highly usable and b) of high quality. By combining expertise in sustainability, digital learning, and enterprise development, the project strengthened micro-enterprises’ capacity to act and equipped VET systems with scalable tools to embed green skills and practices across Europe.