AFI member workshop in Abidjan explores how to make climate risk disclosures work for small businesses

From 2 to 5 December, AFI’s Capacity Building Unit organized a workshop for ten selected member institutions in Abidjan, exploring how policymakers can develop appropriate national climate disclosure frameworks for MSMEs.

Climate disclosures contain details of an organization’s carbon footprint, and exposures to climate risks. They also detail how much an organization’s activities affect, and are affected by, climate change. The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) is spearheading the adoption of a consistent and comparable global standard for such disclosures.

During the workshop, AFI members explored the key components and provisions of climate risk disclosures standards, as well as the challenges which small businesses face in complying with standards and reporting requirements.

“Frameworks are essential to ensure that MSMEs comply with disclosure requirements, align with the green revolution, seize green business opportunities, and avoid financial exclusion due to non-compliance,” said Nomcebo Hadebe, Head of AFI’s Africa Regional Office.

“The primary focus of this workshop is to ensure that standards are implemented in a way that prevents financial exclusion of MSMEs, while simultaneously creating new financing opportunities for them.”

The content generated during the workshop will contribute to a forthcoming AFI publication, Inclusive Green Finance as a Pathway to Proportionate Sustainable Finance Standards, being co-developed by AFI’s Inclusive Green Finance and Global Standards Proportionality Working Groups.