Small businesses during Covid
Though we know the decade can see even dangerous high in global temperature, we are still not successful to reduce greenhouse gases. Despite commitments from international communities, industrial pollution is still growing across the world. During Covid-related restrictions when most of the industries were shut, the atmosphere seemed to be clearer than ever. However, no sooner the lifting of restrictions, pollution level came to their last levels or even high.
While our industries are committed to environmental adaption, the pandemic time has shown a dirty picture in this matter too. According to new report, the world may see pandemic-scale climate shocks ‘every decade’. However, small businesses remain unprepared for these shocks ‘every decade’, reveals report published by the International Trade Centre (ITC). Though accounting for more than half of the global workforce, small businesses may bear the economic shock 2.5 times more than larger firms in initial months of Covid-19, says report.
Not ready for economic shocks every decade!
The small businesses contribute to over 50 percent of global emissions, but they invested only 38 percent in environmental adaptation, in comparison with 60 percent by large firms. The agency revealed this in its latest report – SME Competitiveness Outlook 2021: Empowering The Green Recovery. Pointing that our businesses must be resilient to be ready for pandemics, ITC Executive Director Pamela Coke-Hamilton said “Going green is a survival imperative”. Longer time taken to act will cost higher for the firms, she makes her point.
Developed nations are financially well-equipped to sustain their economies and protect the most vulnerable as well. However, most of the developing and least-developed nations are unable to do a similar job, said Coke-Hamilton. Micro and small businesses have shown such resilience during the pandemic she said. This resilience can play a major role in addressing climate change. That may bring economic disruption like “a Covid-19-size pandemic happening every decade”, the ITC Executive Director said.
Resilience of small businesses during Covid
While presenting the report, ITC Chief Economist Barbara Ramos suggested governments to understand the level of vulnerability of small firms in the first year of the Covid-19. Learning from the pandemic can help us increase the resilience of small firms. The pandemic has affected two out of three micro and small firms. That was just half among the large firms. Moreover, one in four micro firms were at risk of shutting down within three months. That was just one in 10 large firms, the ITC Chief Economist said.
Companies that managed to survive Covid-linked slowdown, “were five times less likely to fire employees during the crisis”, said Ramos. While SMEs employ a large number of population of the world, their resilience becomes vital. The businesses that invested in greening their enterprise are more likely to withstand future shocks. Coke-Hamilton expressed the need of the support of a network of private and public partners in order to help small businesses rebuild from the pandemic. And also to prepare them for the climate crisis, simultaneously, becoming more competitive.
