As governments around the world are wrestling to contain the spread of COVID-19 and its unprecedented impacts on people's lives and the economies around the globe, this crisis also provides a unique opportunity to build a greener, more sustainable and more resilient future by addressing the world’s key challenges and existential threat of climate change.
Green finance is quickly becoming a prominent and fast-growing investment vehicle in many countries around the world. It has become a high priority for many governments and large corporations because it promotes investments that move us towards more sustainable business models, trades, economies, as well as environmental and social projects. All vital to the urgency of addressing climate change.
While significant progress has been made in green finance, SME financing is still be overlooked. This is in spite of the fact that SMEs, contribute substantially to creating jobs and growing economies, but also cumulatively contribute to environmental and social problems.
This year’s Global SME Finance Forum 2021, the annual flagship conference of the SME Finance Forum, will focus not only on the importance of greening SME finance and its roles in promoting a more resilient and sustainable future for SMEs post COVID-19. Over the four days, speakers and participants will also address some of the key issues and challenges including areas such as greenwashing, data benchmarking and verification and misalignment between supply and demand.
The conference will take place from October 18th to 21st, and will convene global thought leaders, climate finance advocate, leading experts and practitioners in the field of SME finance to share their visions, insights and experiences in promoting green finance for SMEs.