Governments across OECD countries are actively supporting the green transition of SMEs, including by developing environmental regulations that are fit for SMEs and by helping SMEs to become more energy efficient, adopt circular business models, develop new green skills, and tap into the opportunities offered by sustainable finance. The OECD promotes the international benchmarking of SME greening policies, including through country-specific projects which supports national governments in the design and rollout of their SME greening policies.  

Financial institutions are increasingly taking climate and other environmental considerations into account when making financing and investment decisions. This creates additional data, monitoring and reporting demands from SME clients who have limited resources and capacities to respond. Ensuring that SMEs can access the growing pool of sustainable finance requires considerable financial and non-financial support as well as the engagement of a wide range of actors, including public and private financial institutions, policy makers, regulators, standard setters, sustainability-related service providers, accountants, and SME associations. The OECD seeks to facilitate the development and dissemination of relevant solutions and good practices in this space through its multi-stakeholder Platform on Financing SMEs for Sustainability.

Governments in OECD countries have been actively designing and implementing schemes to stimulate and support green entrepreneurship.  This includes providing  dedicated financial instruments and networks, offering entrepreneurship training, facilitating incubation and acceleration programmes as well as fostering the demand for green solutions. The OECD supports national, regional and local governments in strengthening policy support for green entrepreneurs through country-specific projects as well as the development of indicators to help countries benchmark themselves and monitor progress in achieving green entrepreneurship policy objectives.