Measuring Environmental Performance in Digital Transformation within SMEs

Climate change and industrialization have led to major environmental challenges. Manufacturing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), play a crucial role in this context, contributing significantly to emissions and energy consumption. Industry 4.0 (14.0), with its technological advancements, offers opportunities to improve the environmental impact (El) of SMEs. However, the increase in automation and digitization raises questions about their true ecological impact. This paper identifies a critical gap in the literature: the lack of alignment between environmental indicators and digital transformation (DT), which complicates the ability of SMEs to measure and enhance their ecological footprint. This research aims to bridge this gap by identifying and compiling relevant environmental indicators for SMEs undergoing digital transformation. Employing a mixed-method approach through an extensive literature review in SCOPUS and subsequent thematic and content analyses, this research aims to identify and compile relevant environmental indicators for SMEs in DT. The paper's findings categorize environmental indicators into three groups: resource usage, environmental repercussions, and durability. These indicators provide a framework for assessing the EI of SMEs in DT. Copyright (C) 2024 The Authors. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)