The research project “M_Key: Management as a Key Driver of Energy Performance” started in 2014 and ended in autumn 2017. It is part of the National Research Programme “Managing Energy Consumption” (NRP 71) of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). INFRAS led the project in collaboration with the University of Neuchatel and Impact Energy.

The main target was to better understand the function, importance and drivers of energy management in companies which consume large amounts of energy, to recognise the decision-making processes that lead to investments in energy efficiency and the impact that energy management have on these processes.

The partners of the project researched these issues, surveying more than 300 major energy-users and consolidating the results in in-depth interviews (with 26 companies) and case studies (covering five companies).