About us

The International Trade Centre (ITC) is the only development agency that is fully dedicated to supporting the internationalization of small businesses.

Trade and Environment is ITC’s Activator towards a green economy that profits both planet and people. Providing knowledge, practical expertise and a global network, ITC Trade and Environment helps small businesses “go green” while developing their competitive advantage. ITC Trade and Environment’s goal is trade that is climate-resilient, fosters biodiversity and promotes production cycles that are truly circular.

What we do

We support the creation of an enabling policy ecosystem for small businesses to go green:

  • Raise awareness of the business case for going green and how trade can support countries’ climate action commitments
  • Develop toolkits and knowledge products to assess the alignment of national, regional and multilateral trade-related regulatory frameworks with environmental goals
  • Provide on-demand advisory and intelligence services to assist policy makers to develop and implement trade and environment related policies
  • Ensure multilateral and national policy processes at the intersections of climate and trade reflect and address the concerns and priorities of small businesses in developing countries

We mobilise the ecosystem of enablers – Hubs, BSOs, finance, technology and service providers –  to support small businesses’ green competitiveness:

  • Increase awareness and capacity of business support organizations to support small businesses go green and advocate to policy makers, whilst enhancing their own environmental performance and structures.
  • Mobilize the financial services sector to increase investment in green(ing) businesses and connect them with ready businesses seeking green finance.​
  • Connect companies providing green technology, inputs, logistics, expertise and other services to small businesses.
  • Curate a network of GreenToCompete Hubs, partner-led organizations that promote the green transformation in their countries, enable them to share lessons and best practices, and multiply ITC’s tools and services with a focus on local priorities.

We enable small businesses to seize competitive advantage by going green:

  • Build the green competitiveness of small businesses by supporting them to adopt circular business models, increase climate resilience and implement nature-positive practices.
  • Enable small businesses to become export and investment ready by raising their awareness of buyer and investor requirements and providing technical assistance to bridge market access gaps.​
  • Offer toolkits and knowledge products for SMEs to help drive their green competitiveness.

Where we work