Capacity building and awareness raising on climate change adaptation in the private sector

Developing countries are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Their economies are highly dependent on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) that significantly contribute to the Gross Domestic Product and employment. For these MSMEs the effects of climate change are especially relevant, as they usually lack knowledge about the effects and opportunities of climate change and do not have sufficient financial capacities to develop and implement adaptation measures.

Within the GIZ Global Programme "Strengthening the capacity of the private sector to adapt to climate change", adelphi implemented the project "Development and pilot testing of advisory approaches to strengthen the capacity of the private sector to adapt to climate change in Bangladesh, Central America, Morocco and Rwanda". The objective of the project was to develop and implement advisory approaches, tools and pilot measures that enable the respective partner countries' private sector to better adapt to the impacts of climate change.

The project was implemented in selected countries/regions and sectors, namely Bangladesh, Central America, Morocco and Rwanda. In order to guarantee high levels of replication and sustained success of the project, the project involved individual companies and intermediary business associations. The respective activities focused on a) awareness raising on the implications of climate change for MSMEs and b) on the development and implementation of capacity building instruments.