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This paper was prepared for the OECD-IEA Climate Change Expert Group (formerly called the Annex I Expert Group) for the purpose of providing useful and timely input on specific topics relevant to international negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The papers do not represent the views of the OECD, the IEA, or their member countries, rather they are Secretariat information papers intended to help inform countries as well as the UNFCCC audience on key technical issues in the international climate change negotiations.

Although uptake of digital practices by SMEs continues to increase, so too has the “digital gap” with larger firms. Understanding the drivers and persisting bottlenecks of SME digitalisation as well as gaining a deeper understanding of their practices and digitalisation processes is key to inform policy decisions to help bridge this gap. This is the primary purpose of the survey this paper draws its findings from, conducted in seven OECD countries (France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Spain and the United States), in co-operation with digital platforms partners of the OECD D4SME Global Initiative. Survey findings provide new insights on SMEs’ digital journeys and how digital tools can support them in navigating short-term challenges and enhancing long-term resilience. The survey also provides evidence about SMEs' use and perception of AI technologies (with a focus on “generative AI”), their application of data analytics for tracking environmental performance, and the impact on mental wellbeing of digital practices in the workplace.

Credit Guarantee Schemes (CGSs) are a widely used policy tool to ease access to finance by SMEs, which, in some countries, ramped up in the aftermath of the 2008-09 financial crisis. The present study aims to improve understanding about the role, impact and sustainability of CGSs, by investigating their characteristics along several dimensions, such as the ownership structure and funding, the legal and regulatory framework, and the operational characteristics of the schemes, including types of services, eligibility criteria, guarantee assignment process and credit risk management. The study explores these dimensions, using detailed examples from OECD and non-OECD countries. It identifies structural and emerging challenges for the financial sustainability and the financial and economic additionality of these schemes, in a rapidly changing economic and regulatory environment. The study investigates in particular the case of Mutual Guarantee Schemes, which are created by borrowers in order to improve their access to finance.

This policy paper aims to improve understanding on how SMEs responded to the COVID-19 crisis and adapted to the new environment, and how different players in their ecosystems are contributing to their digital transition. The first part of the paper sets the scene on the digital transformation of SMEs, by providing an overview of key trends in SME uptake of digital technologies across OECD countries. The second part of the paper focuses on some of the main trends emerging from - or being strongly accelerated by - the COVID-19 crisis, including access to digital infrastructure, e-commerce and teleworking. The third and last section discusses international practices in SME digitalisation policies and presents original evidence from the “rescue” and “recovery” packages launched by OECD governments to face the crisis; as well as case studies and qualitative evidence from private-sector programme provided by partners of the Digital for SMEs Global Initiative (D4SME).