“It was a turning point for me,” said Ruchi Jain, Founder and CEO of Taru Naturals, about her trip to the villages of small-scale farmers in India struggling with the effects of climate change. “I realized that if you want to make a big impact on the world, you have to be grassroots based—it has to be a movement.” Since then, Jain has grown Taru Naturals into a fair-trade network connecting over 10,000 tribal and small-scale organic farmers across India to the resources and training they need to grow climate-resilient crops and markets to sell their products.

Read ANDE's break-down of recent IPCC reports to find out why SGB's should be at the center of the global fight against climate change.

In September 2021, The Lemelson Foundation and ANDE partnered to produce a new report, Climate Entrepreneurship in Developing Economies: Funder Perspectives on Approaches, Challenges, and Opportunities. In an exclusive interview following this publication, Executive Director Rob Schneider, Program Officer Maggie Flanagan, and Communications Officer Pam Kahl share more insights and calls to action for other funders. As the world gathers for COP26, this is particularly important.

Small businesses not only create jobs, but also can develop and deliver solutions to help us get to net zero faster. ANDE’s vision is where small and growing businesses are fully supported to optimize their role in mitigation efforts, local adaptation, and support a just economic transition.

As a crucial driver for innovation and sustainable development, entrepreneurship plays a vital role in growing solutions to mitigate and adapt to climate change. They are especially significant in developing Southeast Asian economies, where micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) contribute up to 97% of national employment in the region.

Meet the 5 impact enterprises that work to achieve the environmental-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

SMEs make up a large part of businesses, jobs, and GHG emissions. A concerted effort towards climate action in India has to include how we engage and support small and growing businesses.

On September 24, 2020, Geigy Mathews and Denis Karema from Enviu hosted a Solution Salon entitled "Eliminating waste to 0% in the textile & food chain, impossible?" as part of ANDE's 2020 Annual Conference. The session highlighted the complex, multi-sector solutions that will be required in order to facilitate the transition towards fully circular textile and food sectors.