Azerbaijan took an important step in involving small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in COP processes with the Baku Coalition Declaration for Green Climate Transition of SMEs, Pamela Rosemarie Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director of the UN International Trade Centre (ITC), told Report.
She noted that during previous COPs, SMEs were mostly left out of this process: "We heard and listened to the voices of large companies, countries, and NGOs, but SMEs were absent. Therefore, ITC decided that SME interests should also be voiced in COP discussions. This is a very important matter."
The ITC Executive Director noted that at COP29, the Azerbaijani government took a forward-looking step by proposing the Baku Coalition Declaration: "I think this declaration will play an important role in including SMEs in future COP discussions. SMEs will now become an important part of this dialogue. I should also add that SMEs constitute 90% of all businesses worldwide. They account for 40-60% of greenhouse gas emissions and 13% of energy consumption. Therefore, it would be wrong to ignore SMEs."