Event: ITC brings the voice of small businesses to COP26

Here is what we will raise in Glasgow

This year’s UN Climate Change Conference COP26 is a momentous summit for the sustainability of small businesses.

It is expected that during the conference members will provide an update on progress made towards their commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emission and to discuss how they can further contribute.

In addition, the conference will focus on commitments towards strengthening resilience towards climate change, mobilizing finance, and increasing collaboration to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Pamela Coke-Hamilton, the Executive Director of the International Trade Centre (ITC), will be in Glasgow, Scotland on 6 November, to join the global delegations of the Conference of the Parties.

The micro, small and medium-sized enterprises with whom ITC works matter to developing countries’ social and economic endurance. Small businesses account for more than 50% of jobs – but at the same time also account for more than 50% of industrial greenhouse gas emissions.

Supporting them to enhance their environmental performance and become resilient to climate change is to ensure economic development for better lives as well as achieving environmental objectives. 

COP26 presents an opportunity to discuss, work together, and commit to a better and safer future of the planet and people.

The International Trade Centre will bring the voices of small businesses to COP26 through various engagements to shape the policies that are needed for the transition to a green economy:

• At the Make Climate Action Everyone’s Business Forum organized by the International Chamber of Commerce on 4 November at 13.00-14.00 CET, ITC will host the panel ‘Climate Resilience in Agricultural Value Chains - Strengthening the Competitiveness of SMEs’. We will exchange ideas with a youth ecopreneur from Peru, a European innovative agricultural company, a global agribusiness representative, and a Viet Nam-based business support organization on best practices and innovative solutions for improving the resilience of small agribusiness to climate-induced business risks and future shocks.

• At the FACT (Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade) Dialogue, hosted by the COP26 Presidency and supported by the Tropical Forest Alliance on 6 November at 08.45-11.30 GMT, Pamela Coke-Hamilton will join Theresa May and Alok Sharma, President of COP26, and supply chain participants, to discuss and agree on principles for collaborative action and a shared roadmap on sustainable land use and international trade.

• At the Chatam House COP26 event, ITC will join leaders of international organizations and ministries for a panel discussion titled ‘How trade and trade policy can support nature positive climate action’, on 6 November at 12:10-14:10 GMT. In this forum, ITC will focus on the ways the international community can cooperate with all ecosystem business organizations to support businesses in ‘going green’.

• The UN/WTO joint side event on 6 November at 18:30-19:45 GMT, will discuss how climate finance and trade can contribute to building resilience to climate change. The event will feature government heads as well as senior representatives of the International Trade Centre (ITC), UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), UN Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean (UNECLAC), UN Office of the High Representatives for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries, and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS), UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), and the World Trade Organization (WTO), joined by private sector representatives.

To learn more about ITC’s GreenToCompete initiative, please visit: www.intracen.org/greentocompete