On 22 June, the EBRD’s Green Economy Financing Facility (GEFF) held an online event entitled “An Inclusive Green Economy for Georgia: Strengthening Women and Men-led MSMEs for a Sustainable Future”. The main purpose of the event was to deepen the understanding of the climate change-related challenges faced by individuals and female (and male) business leaders, the climate adaptation measures available to MSMEs, and the green financing opportunities in the country.
The event in Georgia was attended by relevant public and regulatory institutions, non-governmental organisations, people and business leaders, banking institutions, as well as the international community. It showed that the “rules of the game” in the green economy in Georgia are slowly but surely being established. As a matter of fact, Georgia is becoming ever more prepared to further develop its green economy in terms of access to high performance green technologies, availability of quality green financial options, development of programmes implemented by national agencies that catalyse knowledge and capacity around these aspects, as well as the integration of inclusive and gender inclusive standards.
Two panel discussions were held with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture (MEPA), the National Bank of Georgia (NBG), the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development (MoESD), Georgia’s Innovation and Technology Agency (GITA), the Fund for Women Entrepreneurs (FWE), the Georgian Farmers’ Association (GFA) and the partner financial institutions of the EBRD’s GEFF (TBC Bank, ProCredit Bank, and BasisBank). The panels shed light on the steps that the country is taking in transitioning to a greener, more inclusive economy.
MEPA has developed a climate change strategy and action plan to seal its commitments, which are included in the National Determined Contributions (NDC) policy, as per the Paris Climate Agreement. Georgia’s NDC has thus far integrated gender aspects which were an active part of the discussion in MEPA’s coordination with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – UNFCCC.
In the area of sustainable economic development, Georgia has an operational SME strategy for the period 2021-2024, which mainstreams gender in terms of providing quantitative evidence of the economic participation of women and men in the business sector, through the implementation of a regular survey of establishments. At the same time, the MoESD joined the OECD’s Green Growth Declaration in 2016, which is aimed at the implementation of energy efficiency and resource efficiency activity for a low carbon economy. It is also actively associated with the EU4Environment programme, launched in 2019, and aimed at designing public investment strategies in the green economy for the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries.
Through the recent adoption of a “Roadmap for Sustainable Finance”, NBG is set to play a leading role in the development of green and social financial standards in Georgia. Indeed, NBG is fully committed to making sure that financial institutions understand and acknowledge the importance of sustainable finance, both in terms of green finance rules and definitions, as well as in terms of social aspects cutting across access to finance as a whole.
GEFF’s partner financial institutions continue to offer an ample array of green finance solutions to a slowly but steadily growing demand market, while also striving to manage their lending strategies in a gender inclusive way. The PFIs’ green portfolios are mostly focused on renewable energy, but are also now starting to veer towards energy efficiency, given the more enabling environment created by the recent adoption of secondary legislation in that space as well as the increases in the price of energy.
The attendees, including more than 60 MSMEs, international organisations and programme representatives, policymakers and members of the public, had the chance to join in the discussion about the ways that Georgia can secure a sustainable future though supporting women and men-led MSMEs in combating climate change, adopting green technologies, and accessing affordable finance.
The road ahead is long, but clear and full of hope.
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