Visa Inc.
Climate Impact & Sustainability Data (2021)
Reporting Period: 2021
Environmental Metrics
ESG Focus Areas
- Digital Inclusion of Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs)
Social Achievements
- Increased hiring by SMBs due to digitization; SMBs contracting more IT, logistics, and other services; Broad-based gains from digitization across SMB sizes, suggesting economic inclusion.
Climate Goals & Targets
Environmental Challenges
- SMBs needing more knowledge and expertise in bolstering digital capabilities, enhancing their presence on regional and global marketplaces, and gaining access to working capital; Need for stronger cybersecurity capabilities; Uneven progress in SMB digitization across the GCC; Limited access to talent and financing for some SMB segments; Limited access to high-quality internet in some sub-regions; Incomplete implementation of reforms to improve the enabling environment for the digital economy.
Mitigation Strategies
- Government initiatives providing digital skills training, financing for digital transformation, promoting SMBs’ use of fintechs, ensuring access to digital data, and promoting digital integration within the GCC; Public-private partnerships to support SMBs’ digital skills and capabilities; Initiatives to improve the enabling environment for the digital economy (e.g., electronic transactions and e-payments laws, fintech strategies and sandboxes, national e-commerce roadmaps).