While the globalisation of supply chains offers myriad opportunities for MSMEs to scale and access new markets, the call for them to disclose, verify and track their sustainability performances may prove to be a hindrance in accessing the growing pools of green supply chains, business and financing opportunities.

Project Savannah was developed to help these MSMEs overcome the challenges they face in measuring and reporting their environmental, social and governance (ESG) performances. It seeks to do so through capacity building, simplified reporting and more accessible data.

In this session, participants will exchange views on how to strengthen resourcing and incentivisation for MSMEs to undertake such reporting, and how governments, international organisations and private sector players can coordinate support. Additionally, they will discuss how Project Savannah can be scaled more rapidly and efficiently, and to which priority markets, in order for its benefits to be promulgated to areas of greatest need.

This roundtable seeks to establish the foundations for a Project Savannah implementation playbook that outlines deployment strategies, best practices, and actionable steps for current and future participants.

Countries around the world are studying the IFRS-ISSB climate reporting standards with a view to transpose these into national-level requirements, but implementation remains a challenge. On the more immediate horizon, the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) has come into force and poses far-reaching implications for in-scope businesses and smaller entities in their supply chains, which may not be equipped with the ESG skillsets and capabilities to meet these demands. And as ESG becomes increasingly politicised, governments face mounting pressure to re-check the pace of regulation against the feasibility of catering solutions to support industry implementation and compliance, as well as justifying the economic merits of going green. 
 
Is there a need to rebalance the three-legged stool of Regulation, Technology and Economics? If so, how?