IDB Invest, a member of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, is seeking to expand climate adaptive services provided by micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the region with the launch of its climate resiliency study.

Dubbed ‘Interventions to increase Climate Resilient Investments in Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago: Identification of Hazards and Resilience Measures‘, the study provides an outlook for MSMEs to adopt climate resilient measures in their constructions.

The study was officially launched on Wednesday (March 13), during the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) and the IDB Empower JA Forum.

“As it relates to climate change and its impact on businesses and economies of our region, extreme weather events like tropical storms have impacted us probably the most globally. For smaller societies, the impact is very severe in our space. The past 20 years, these disasters have caused over US$12 billion in direct losses in the Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti and the Dominican Republic,” said Anton Edmunds, Caribbean Country Department and Country Representative in Jamaica.

Anton further noted that MSMEs generally find it challenging to recover from such disasters with limited access to capital.

“At the end of the day business must adopt, the way in which you run your business today, if you are to be successful, it demands that you address climate resilience. That you have the systems in place to address the health and welfare of your people and that you know the interconnected nature of policy and productivity. ESG [Environmental, Social and Governance] policy and implementations are key factors used increasingly by all when measuring sustainability and ethical impact when measuring sustainability of investment in a business or company. Banks and financial partners will increasingly want to know whether you have ESG policies in place. As a result, for you to thrive the incorporation of new ways of operating and new business models will become necessary,” he added.

Similarly, PSOJ president Metry Seaga shared that integrating sustainable practices in business models unlocks new markets and enhances competitiveness while contributing to a healthier planet.

Acknowledging the severity of climate-related threats in the regions, the study provides resiliency measures that MSMEs can adopt specific to these threats.

“One of the most important take away from this study, there are so many opportunities and we know the risks with climate change, they are going to be very high, they are going to be very frequent, they are going to be very intense but the flip side of that is that there is a problem that we have now business solutions to solve,” shared Malini Samtani, advisory officer for climate change at IDB Invest.

The study also highlights possibilities of business opportunities for SMEs to sell or offer climate change resiliency products and services.