COP28 brings together leaders from governments, businesses, NGOs and civil society to take stock of progress on the Paris Agreement – the landmark climate treaty concluded in 2015 – and chart a course of action to dramatically reduce emissions and protect lives and livelihoods.
The science is clear: to preserve a livable climate, the production of coal, oil, and gas must rapidly decline, and global renewable power capacity – including wind, solar, hydro and geothermal energy – needs to triple by 2030. At the same time, financing for adaptation and investments in climate resilience need a quantum leap.

The Forum will be part of that major event, contributing to SME green inclusion and Qamar Saleem, CEO of the SME Finance Forum, will speak in two panels.

SME Panel with OECD: Is Sustainable Finance leaving SMEs behind?

SMEs have a significant aggregate carbon footprint (25-57% of GHG emissions of business sector emissions in the EU), but most are only at the beginning of the journey to net zero and most cite finance as one of the key constraints they face in the green transition. Access to finance is likely to become an even bigger constraint as financing conditions become increasingly dependent on sustainability considerations, and as financial institutions (FIs) face non-financial reporting requirements that place a reporting burden on SMEs. Fostering SMEs’ access to as well as uptake of sustainable finance is an important priority for the global transition to net zero.  

This panel will explore the challenges in the provision and uptake of SME sustainable finance and the critical role that different actors in the finance ecosystem can play in creating a conducive environment for the financing of SMEs’ sustainable investments. The discussions will touch upon critical themes including SME-related data gaps, challenges of the provision of transition finance to SMEs, boosting SME demand for sustainable finance, etc. It will also explore how regulations, policies and other solutions can take SME needs into account and meet the needs of the transition without creating an undue burden on small businesses.  

Solutioning digital and green inclusion for SMEs globally and in the lower Gulf

This panel will discuss the viability of deploying and scaling global technology solutions to leapfrog sustainability reporting and financing for small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) across the globe.

It will feature Greenprint, a recently launched platform by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), with ambitions to be the regional SME reporting and data aggregator solution for Southeast Asia.

MAS, Microsoft and other Greenprint partners - MUFG Bank, UOB and KPMG - will discuss the structural and implementation challenges of transposing solutions from one region to another, using SMEs in the lower gulf as a topical focus.