Egypt

Bringing together a high-level expert panel, the event will address:
• Barriers and opportunities for greening value chains and enhancing small businesses’ climate competitiveness in developing countries, particularly LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS.
• Policy and industry triggers to foster developing countries’ participation in sustainable trade.
• "Win-win" trade facilitation pathways to reduce carbon emissions, greening logistics and meet adaptation needs through access to technology, finance and innovation.

SMEs are the backbone of our economies and have a vital role to play in supporting the transition towards a cleaner and more environmentally friendly future in countries around the world, both by reducing the impact of their own operations and reducing the impacts generated in their supply chains. The ICC/Sage SME Climate Impact Report aims to better understand the environmental impact of SMEs in two markets, the United Kingdom and South Africa, and identifies key challenges and opportunities for SMEs to take more ambitious environmental action. Building on the economic research, we have developed a series of recommendations for policy makers to help create an enabling environment that can foster meaningful contributions from the global SME community.
This event will present the recent economic research and participants will have the opportunity to discuss why this transition is particularly challenging for SMEs and propose what climate actions SMEs can take now as well as what actions are needed by the government and business to enable greater SME climate action in the future.

Launching of Coalition for Innovation, Circularity and Entrepreneurship (CICE) with its Partners

This session will feature the launch of the Climate Smart Network, a new platform developed by the International Trade Centre, in partnership with the U.S. Department of State, in which small to medium sized enterprises can showcase their climate smart attributes, compliance to environmental or climate criteria of established certifications or their commitment to low-carbon practices. Representatives from the Department of State, ITC, Salamtex (an Egyptian medium sized enterprise in the textile sector), Bayer Crop Science, and the GOLD Standard will also discuss challenges and opportunities arising from the low-carbon transition in global value chains and ways to support small businesses in the green transition. This platform will serve as a tool for large buyers to search for products that meet their climate goals and help to diversify their supply chains.