Toolkit to help Asia-Pacific small businesses improve sustainability, unlock finance: ADB, ITC - Trade Treasury Payments

(Manila/Geneva) – Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) working in textile and apparel sectors across the Asia-Pacific now have access to a free online platform to assess their ability to meet sustainability certifications—as increasingly demanded by buyers worldwide—and to build actionable plans to strengthen their participation in sustainable trade.

The SME Sustainability Standards Navigation Toolkit is a digital tool developed by the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Trade and Supply Chain Finance Programme (TSCFP) and the International Trade Centre. 

SMEs begin by completing a quick scan that evaluates their readiness to comply with sustainability standards. The system identifies which sustainability standards are most relevant to their sector and markets, then generates a customized self-assessment and a detailed improvement plan. 

These plans include targeted recommendations and practical steps to help businesses strengthen areas such as environmental performance, worker safety and governance. The platform simplifies complex technical information and translates global sustainability frameworks into locally relevant actions.

The project builds on ITC’s Standards Map, the world’s largest database of voluntary sustainability standards. By aligning the Toolkit with this resource, ADB TSCFP and ITC ensure that SMEs are connected to trusted global benchmarks and certification systems. 

Connecting banks, businesses

Following a pilot involving more than 100 SMEs across Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam, this platform now features resources that enable financial institutions to better understand and assess the sustainability performance of SME clients. This includes a verified registry of certified businesses built on the ITC Certified Business Registry, which already includes over 50,000 sustainable businesses, and tools for banks to integrate sustainability screening into lending decisions. The Toolkit can support banks with or without established ESG systems, helping to increase the supply of sustainability-linked finance in developing economies.

‘Sustainability is a matter of competitiveness for SMEs. Without moving up the curve on sustainability, SMEs risk being cut out of supply chains and losing market access. This toolkit will help SMEs meet this challenge,’ said Steven Beck, Head of ADB’s Trade and Supply Chain Finance Programme.

Vanessa Erogbogbo, Director of ITC’s Division of Sustainable and Inclusive Value Chains, said, ‘This is not about adding another layer of compliance. It is about simplifying the journey and making sustainability a driver of competitiveness. By providing a structured way to document and verify their efforts, SMEs can demonstrate value to both buyers and banks.’

The Toolkit is freely available to SMEs, financial institutions and policymakers. It is currently being scaled to new sectors, including agriculture, and will continue to evolve based on user feedback and collaboration with ADB’s partner financial institutions.

Access the Toolkit here: ADB-SMEToolkit – Standards Map