Getting Down To Business: How SMEs Can Drive Investments in Climate Adaptation

When: Monday 18 November at 13:15-14:45 (GMT+4)
Where: Room Side Event 7, COP29, Azerbaijan.

This COP29 side event, jointly led by UNIDO and UNEP, will focus on insights from UN initiatives that are leveraging private sector innovation for climate adaptation. It will benefit from UN-wide climate adaptation innovation and learning platform. 

In 2023, global warming exceeded 1.5°c over an entire year for the first time, marking a critical threshold in climate impacts. The adaptation finance gap is now between $194 billion and $366 billion annually, highlighting the urgent need for increased and diversified funding sources. Without significant change, climate risks could outpace adaptation efforts.

At COP29, the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) aims to establish new financing targets, highlighting the importance of tapping into overlooked funding sources to accelerate adaptation efforts.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are crucial in climate adaptation, representing 90% of firms globally and contributing up to 60% of employment.  This is particularly true in the least developed countries (LDCs), where SMEs drive economic growth, innovation, job creation, and integration of women and youth into the economic mainstream. The side event brings together SME representative with funders/financiers in a discourse that highlights the importance of mainstreaming climate finance solutions for SMEs to drive the deep shifts needed to move developing countries onto low carbon, resilient pathways.

For more information contact s.suh@unido.org and sumalee.khosla@un.org