After the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union, certain rules of conduct regarding energy and environmental protection have been adopted and the EU Directives are implemented in their own legislative framework. Financial barriers, lack of confidence in energy service companies and ESCO (Energy Service Company) projects, lack of expertise and information of corporate decision-makers on opportunities to increase enterprise competitiveness by implementing energy efficiency projects are just some of the obstacles to implementing energy efficiency improvement projects which was based on the research problem of this specialized specialist work. On the other hand, the subject matter of the survey was the selected enterprises and their way of energy management and the implementation of energy efficiency projects for the purpose of sustainable business, future growth, job creation and environmental protection. Based on the conducted secondary and primary research it can be concluded that continuous energy management and implementation of energy efficiency projects in enterprises with the purpose of sustainable business, future growth, job creation and environmental protection are of strategic importance.