Sustainability might be the buzzword of this decade, but turning over a green leaf can be incredibly hard if you own a smaller
business. For instance, sourcing 'natural' items is oftentimes much more expensive than their synthetic counterparts, and is just one of the several problems smaller businesses have to wrangle.
But in the climate battle, smaller and medium enterprises (SMEs) are just as important as multinationals, making it imperative to ramp up and pipeline
green finance to the bubbling small businessman.
In partnership with the
United Nations Development Programme, the
Global Environment Facility (
GEF) has deployed a massive $1.4 billion to empower projects that will tackle environmental crises worldwide.
The GEF continues to remain one of the biggest funders for projects that tackle biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution, and land and ocean strains. The organisation has raised more than US$22 billion for over 5,000 projects worldwide in the past three decades.
According to the
UNDP, their latest endeavour stands to directly benefit 14 million people globally, many of whom are disproportionately affected by our ongoing planetary woes. These funds will be distributed in projects over 88 countries, many of which are Least Developed and Small Island Developing Countries — some of the worst affected when climate change lashes out.
One of the projects benefiting from this initiative comes from India. Titled '
Guarantee Mechanism for Renewable Biogas Initiative', the proposal has been allocated almost $14 million of GEF financing along with a hefty $705 million in co-financing for the development of up to 100 compressed
bioenergy projects as a fossil-fuel natural gas alternative. At fruition, the project could mitigate 11.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, improve 5.5 million hectares of land, and benefit 5,100 people in the country.
All in all, the UN agency believes that, by de-risking policy and providing incentives, this monumental fundraiser could butterfly into unlocking an additional $9 billion towards the public and private sector and development banks.
What follows is that SMEs could also begin to feel more confident in their steady transition towards greener business practices. As more local businesses turn sustainable, there is the chance that the now-empowered communities around them will also begin to benefit and follow suit, contributing to a better ecosystem overall.
“This support comes at a critical time for vulnerable countries, to scale up existing successes and tackle grave climate threats through sustainable and climate-resilient agricultural and water management practices," notes Houmed M’Saidié, a government spokesperson from the island nation of Union of Comoros.
He further elaborates: "This will minimise harmful land use such as deforestation, incentivizing instead restoration and ecosystem protection, to build a more resilient future and ensure that one is left behind for generations to come."
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