SME's always use consultants to coach them in this process. Therefore, the work process of the consultant is of prior prime importance. The BE-SMARTER project aimed to enhance the quality of intervention of professionals in this context. A specific, blended adult vocational and educational training concept was developed. On the basis of existing best practice, the partners elaborated the main deliverable of the BE- SMARTER project - that is, a capacity-building package tested by 100 participating consultants. Consultants in remote areas participated, as the tutoring was delivered via the on-line platform.

The training had a "triple win "outcome :

• Capacity building: trained EMS consultants and related professionals
• Implementation of ISO 14001 and EMAS:SMEs are coached to implement EMS
• Quality control: Environmental Auditors validated the skill base of the consultant
• The learning process enabled the award of a diploma, based on a lean EMAS or ISO 14001 implementation.

During the project, 10 trainers and tutors have followed more than 100 environmental professionals to become SMARTER. 14 training sessions have been delivered to 105 consultants in 5 different countries (Germany, Belgium, France, Hungary, Estonia). 74 of the 105 consultants that followed the face to face trainings were involved in the coaching of 149 SMEs.

Out of these 74 consultants, 35 got a diploma of qualification for having successfully coached 2 SMEs towards the implementation of ISO 14001 and/or EMAS.