AI Agents for Sustainable SMEs: A Green ESG Assessment Framework

arXiv cs.AI / 5/5/2026

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Key Points

  • The paper proposes an AI-driven framework to assess ESG performance in European SMEs, with a focus on Environmental, Social, and Governance metrics.
  • It builds an expert-validated ESG baseline using a subset of Flash Eurobarometer FL549 survey data, which serves as the ground reference for later automation.
  • A second phase uses an n8n-based scalable AI agent system to classify ESG automatically and produce contextual recommendations via large language models (LLMs).
  • The study reports high consistency between the AI system’s outputs and human-derived assessments, suggesting it can support monitoring and intervention efforts under the European Green Deal.

Abstract

This study presents a novel, AI-driven framework for assessing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance in European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). An initial phase established expert-validated ESG baseline scores from a subset of the Flash Eurobarometer FL549 survey data. In the second phase, a scalable AI agent system, built on the n8n automation platform, applied these baselines to perform automated ESG classification and generate contextual recommendations using large language models (LLMs). The results demonstrate the AI system's high consistency with human-derived outputs, thereby supporting more effective monitoring and intervention strategies aligned with the European Green Deal.