This report aims at providing an overview of the agribusiness incubation and acceleration landscape in Africa. The study is a joint effort between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the African Union Commission (AUC) and the Agripreneurship Alliance.
The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) updated its Guidelines for Climate Target Setting for Banks in April 2024 to reflect the evolution of the sustainable finance landscape over the last three years and reinforce the roadmap for member banks aiming to achieve net-zero emissions. The Guidelines are designed to support Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) member banks in setting Scope 3 Category 15 emissions targets as defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol). While members have committed to achieving net-zero in their own operational emissions (Scopes 1, 2, and non-Category 15 Scope 3), this is beyond the scope of the Guidelines which focus only on banks’ Scope 3 Category 15 emissions. These Guidelines are also to be applied by members of the Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) that have selected climate mitigation as one of their priority impact areas and should set climate targets within four years of joining.
Leveraging finance can be a catalyst for a menu of possible solutions. Targeted sustainable finance instruments can unlock the widespread adoption of state-of-the-art agricultural technologies, innovative value chain processes, and eco-inclusive farming methodologies in the GCC and across global value chains. This research explores these solutions through the lens of financial institutions, offering recommendations on policy, finance, and agribusiness levels to enhance food security, address climate change, and promote water sustainability.
In this research, MGI aggregated a richly granular data set of MSMEs and large companies across 12 broad sectors, 68 level-two subsectors, and more than 200 level-three subsectors for 16 countries that account for more than half of global GDP.
In these countries, MSMEs on average have only half the productivity of large companies, and less than that in emerging economies. Raising MSMEs to top-quartile levels relative to large companies is equivalent to 5 percent of GDP in advanced economies and 10 percent in emerging economies.