The Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CACCI), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), and the World Chambers Federation are inviting members, associates and friends to join the upcoming webinar on “Making Sense of Sustainability Requirements for SMEs in Asia-Pacific,” to be held on Friday, 2 October 2026, at 16:00 Singapore Time (SGT).

INTRODUCTION

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly being asked to provide sustainability-related information by customers, financial institutions, buyers, and supply chain partners. These requests can often be difficult to interpret and address, particularly where trade, market-access, financing, and supply chain expectations overlap.

To help SMEs navigate these evolving requirements, the ICC Centre of Entrepreneurship and CACCI are organizing this introductory webinar to explain why sustainability-related requests are becoming more common, what types of information businesses are typically being asked to provide, and where SMEs can find practical tools and support.

The webinar will offer practical insights into navigating sustainability expectations in international trade and export markets, while helping SMEs better understand how these requirements may affect their business relationships, access to markets, and financing opportunities.

As part of the session, a panel discussion will bring together policy, chamber, business-support, and SME perspectives to examine how these sustainability requirements are being experienced in practice. The discussion will explore why such requests are increasing, the challenges SMEs face in responding to them, and how chambers and business organizations can provide practical first-line support.

The panel will include representatives from:

• ICC, providing a policy perspective;
• Stuart Thomson, CACCI Vice President for Entrepreneurship;
• Clara Kwan, representing the Singapore Manufacturing Federation / Asia Pacific Green Alliance (APGA); and
• An SME representative, sharing practical business experience.

OBJECTIVES

Participants will have the opportunity to:

• Understand why sustainability-related requirements are becoming increasingly common in trade, export, financing, and supply chain relationships.
• Gain an overview of the sustainability information and disclosure expectations increasingly facing SMEs.
• Discover practical tools and resources, including those developed by the International Trade Centre (ITC), to help businesses respond to these requirements.
• Hear directly from policy experts, chambers, business-support organizations, and SMEs on how sustainability expectations are being managed in practice.
• Better understand how chambers can support SMEs in interpreting and responding to sustainability-related requests from international buyers, financial institutions, and supply chain partners.

To register for the webinar, please click HERE.