The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News , Press Conferences | UNOG
ITC Presser - Launch of the Competiveness Outlook 2021 23 June 2021
Small businesses unprepared for pandemic-sized climate shock ‘every decade’: ITC
Small businesses which make up more than half of the global workforce were 2.5 times more likely to go under than larger firms in the first months of COVID-19, the International Trade Centre (ITC) said on Wednesday, warning that the impact of climate change is likely to cause pandemic-scale disruption “every decade”.
Highlighting the lack of investment in environmental adaptation among micro and small businesses in less-developed economies, ITC Executive Director Pamela Coke-Hamilton noted that only 38 per cent of small businesses had taken action, compared to 60 per cent of large firms.
“The pandemic has shown that the resilience of businesses matter,” she told journalists at UN Geneva, noting also that small businesses accounted for 50 per cent of global emissions.
“It has also laid bare a resilience divide between small and large firms. Developed countries have the financial means to sustain their economies and protect the most vulnerable. But most developed and least developed countries are unable to do the same.”
Ms Coke-Hamilton added that if such resilience among micro and small businesses was necessary during the pandemic, “it will be even more crucial in addressing climate change. The economic disruption of climate change is expected to be like that of a COVID-19-size pandemic happening every decade. Going green is a survival imperative; the longer firms take to act, the higher the costs become.”
Presenting the agency’s latest report, SME Competitiveness Outlook 2021: Empowering The Green Recovery, ITC Chief Economist Barbara Ramos insisted that governments needed to understand the level of vulnerability of small firms in the first year of the pandemic.
“We need to learn from COVID in order to increase the resilience of small firms….Our SME report last year showed that two out of three micro and small firms were strongly affected by the pandemic, and that’s compared to half of large firms; we know that. We also know that one in four micro firms were at risk of shutting down within three months and this is compared to one in 10 large firms.”
This matters, Ms. Ramos insisted, because companies that managed to withstand the economic downturn caused by COVID-19 “were five times less likely to fire employees during the crisis. And if you add to that the fact that SMEs employ a large share of the world’s population, their resilience really does matter.”
To help small businesses rebuild from the pandemic and prepare for the climate crisis while becoming more competitive, Ms. Coke-Hamilton maintained that urged they will need the support of a network of private and public partners to boost their means to withstand future shocks.
To guide this process, ITC’s report provides a 20-point Green Recovery Plan to help small businesses become more competitive, resilient and green.
“During the pandemic, the liquidity of banks especially in the Caribbean was upwards of $9 billion, but somehow they lacked the ability to attribute value to the green transition process and what this will mean,” she said, urging governments to advocate with financial institutions “to help them understand the long-term strategy and the need to invest.”
According to ITC, nearly 60 per cent of African companies that invested in greening their enterprise said that this led to new, higher-quality and more products. Access to new markets was also a byproduct of this investment along with lower costs.
ends
STORY: Empowering The Green Economy - ITC
TRT: 02 min 34s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 23 JUNE 2021 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
Exterior wide shot, Palais des Nations flag alley, nations’ flags flying, a sunny day.
- Medium shot: podium speakers seated next to large screen TV relaying broadcast image of the press conference, Room XIV, Palais des Nations
- SOUNDBITE (English): ITC Executive Director, Pamela Coke-Hamilton: “The pandemic has shown that the resilience of businesses matter. It has also laid bare a resilience divide between small and large firms. Developed countries have the financial means to sustain their economies and protect the most vulnerable. But most developed and least developed countries are unable to do the same.”
- Medium shot, journalist, masked and seated, texting on mobile phone in front of laptop.
- SOUNDBITE (English): ITC Executive Director, Pamela Coke-Hamilton: “If such resilience was necessary during the pandemic, it will be even more crucial in addressing climate change. The economic disruption of climate change is expected to be like that of a COVID-19-size pandemic happening every decade. Going green is a survival imperative; the longer firms take to act, the higher the costs become.”
- Medium shot, journalists seated, masked and distanced.
- SOUNDBITE (English): ITC Chief Economist Barbara Ramos: “We need to learn from COVID in order to increase the resilience of small firms. So what have we learned? Our SME report last year showed that two out of three micro and small firms were strongly affected by the pandemic, and that’s compared to half of large firms; we know that. We also know that one in four micro firms were at risk of shutting down within three months and this is compared to one in 10 large firms.”
- Medium shot, side view of podium speakers seated during press conference.
- SOUNDBITE (English): ITC Chief Economist Barbara Ramos: “This matters because we found that companies that were resilient to this crisis were five times less likely to fire employees during the crisis, five times less likely. And if you add to that the fact that SMEs employ a large share of the world’s population, their resilience really does matter.”
- Medium shot, participant, seated and masked, following the press conference slide presentation on his laptop.
- SOUNDBITE (English): ITC Executive Director, Pamela Coke-Hamilton: “During the pandemic, the liquidity of banks especially in the Caribbean was upwards of $9 billion, but somehow they lacked the ability to attribute value to the green transition process and what this will mean. And so it’s also important for BSOs and governments to advocate with the financial institutions to help them understand the long-term strategy and the need to invest and allow you know this kind of support to come into effect.”
- Medium shot, journalist, seated with reading glasses resting on forehead which he then puts on, examining ITC report.
- Medium-wide shot, journalists, seated and distanced, with podium speakers to rear.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , OHCHR , UNFPA , UNOG , UNHCR , WHO
Yemen’s humanitarian crisis growing by the hour amid spike in displacement
Yemenis displaced by renewed fighting have described fleeing for their lives amid shelling and gunfire, aid agencies reported on Friday, while highlighting the dramatic increase in humanitarian needs in the country and in Djibouti, where thousands have sought shelter.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office issued on Friday a report documenting a shocking pattern of sexual violence amid Russia’s full-scale armed attack on Ukraine.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | IOM , OHCHR , UN WOMEN , UNFPA , UNHCR , UNOPS , WHO
UN Geneva briefing: Yemen crisis worsens, urgent aid needed across multiple sectors.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | HRC
Press conference on the latest report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the UN Human Rights Council
1
1
1
Press Conferences | OHCHR
Victims Still Waiting: A Global Briefing on Transitional Justice Around the World
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | WMO
As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
ends
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
The deadly Ebola virus outbreak in DR Congo continues to spread across the vast country despite some success in containing it, aid officials said on Tuesday, in a renewed call for international support to help responders on the ground.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | WMO , OCHA , WHO , UNICEF , UN WOMEN , OHCHR , IOM , UNHCR
Update on Ebola from WHO and OCHA, update on the situation of children with the beginning of school in Ukraine from UNICEF, UN Women on the impact of the settlers and restrictions on women and girls in West Bank, OHCHR on the recovery of extensive human remains in Gaza, IOM and UNHCR on the new wave of displacement in Yemen
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | WFP
‘Super El Niño’ and converging crises worsen hunger in South Sudan and across the region - WFP
South Sudan’s hunger crisis is becoming increasingly catastrophic as violence, extreme weather and dwindling aid leave millions without enough food, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | HRC
Update on the human rights situation in Belarus by the UN Group of Independent Experts on the Human Rights Situation in Belarus
1
1
1
Press Conferences | HRC , OHCHR
Update on the human rights situation in Syria by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
In war-torn Gaza, a growing number of women-headed households face “impossible decisions” every day, amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes and still-scarce resources, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.