Resilient, Inclusive and Sustainable Enterprises (RISE): Empowering Indian MSMEs and Workers for a Just Transition to a Low-Carbon Future

Climate change poses severe risks to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), including damage to infrastructure, increased financial risks, regulatory uncertainties, market fluctuations and supply chain disruptions. Despite these risks, climate action often remains low on the agenda for small enterprises as it involves high upfront capital costs.

With increasing sustainability demands and economy-wide low carbon transitions, MSMEs will need to adopt climate-friendly practices or change business operations and products to stay competitive and protect livelihoods. This will require reskilling of workers and institutional support for MSMEs.

Resilient, Inclusive and Sustainable Enterprises (RISE) aims to help build the resilience and competitiveness of MSMEs in Chennai and Coimbatore automotive clusters in Tamil Nadu and the Surat textile cluster in Gujarat, while enabling an inclusive and just transition to a low carbon future.

By 2026, under RISE, WRI India will engage with MSMEs and local communities, industry associations and experts, skilling and financing agencies and local and national governments to support at least 1000 workers in 100 MSMEs to help them manage climate impacts, implement climate actions and acquire skills for better livelihoods.

The RISE initiative aims to achieve this through the following approaches:

Research

WRI India’s research will identify climate-related vulnerabilities that may affect MSMEs and workers in two clusters and build their capacity to undertake recommended measures. We will also assess the decarbonization potential of MSMEs and their existing capacities, as well as train them to adopt low-carbon interventions. Additionally, our work will focus on identifying and supporting the skilling and upskilling needs of MSMEs to sustain jobs and livelihoods and enable a just low carbon transition.

Capacity Building

Findings from the research will be used to identify capacity needs of MSMEs and develop capacity-building modules for entrepreneurs and workers, including women, to strengthen their understanding of climate change. These will include training workshops on sector-specific reskilling, climate-proofing and decarbonisation.

Download the RISE brochure

Dialogue, Engagement and Outreach

Create a platform to document MSME voices and case studies, and share research findings, learnings and successes with MSMEs, state and national governments and business leaders through informational content, commentaries, videos, and webinars.

Outcomes

Support at least 100 MSMEs and 1000 workers in building climate resilience in two MSME clusters, and train entrepreneurs and workers towards a just low carbon transition.

Help MSME associations, industry associations, and specific line ministries in state and central governments adopt processes and/or programs to build on the success stories of the project.

Contribute to an enhanced dialogue on building resilient livelihoods within MSMEs among industry and national and state governments.

About the CREST Initiative

Climate-Resilient Employees for a Sustainable Tomorrow (CREST) is a 5-year, $25 million career preparation and reskilling initiative by the Ares Foundation. CREST aims to advance workforce solutions that increase equitable access to high-opportunity, high-paying jobs in a growing green economy. The Ares Foundation has partnered with Jobs for the Future (JFF) and World Resources Institute (WRI) to execute on this initiative, with the intent to design and deliver scalable solutions in the US and India.

Click here to know more about the CREST Initiative: Reskilling Small Businesses for Climate-Resilient Supply Chains | World Resources Institute (wri.org)

Digital Magazine: Advancing Equity Through a Reimagined Supply Chain - Crest (workingnation.com)

CREST Partners Meeting 2024

The annual CREST Partners Meeting for 2024 was held in Mumbai to enhance learning and collaboration among CREST partners (Ares Charitable Foundation, World Resources Institute, and Jobs for the Future). The meeting facilitated discussions with industry experts and MSME owners on the challenges faced by MSMEs in skilling for quality green jobs, especially for vulnerable workers, and helped identify cross-cutting learnings and implications.

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