Driving Sustainability in MSMEs in Latin America and the Caribbean: Proposal for an ESG Self-Assessment Tool

Although the crisis generated by COVID-19 has only deepened the vulnerability of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), conditions are emerging to promote sustainable economic recovery through access to productive financing, supplemented by technical assistance, to promote investments that contribute to reducing gender and diversity gaps in companies, as well as exposure to climate change risks. This publication is a guide for public development banks (PDBs) and other economic promotion agencies to implement a self-assessment tool to determine, preliminarily, the degree of sustainability of MSMEs. By applying this tool, we expect to achieve two aims: (i) for PDBs, to have initial information that will allow them to develop and/or adjust their support to MSMEs, both in terms of credit and technical assistance; and (ii) for MSMEs, to have access to an easy-to-use tool that will allow them to identify gaps and opportunities with respect to the sustainability of their business model.