Category: SDGs

Photo by Robert Bye on Unsplash
Asia, Building resilience, SDGs

How China is implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

 By Xiheng Jiang, Vice-President of China Center for International Knowledge on Development (CIKD)

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Report 2019 shows that, while advances have been made in some areas, monumental challenges remain. The world is not on track to end poverty and millions still live in hunger. People in absolute poverty will remain at 6% by 2030, falling short of the 3% goal. It is also alarming that undernourished people went up from 784 million in 2015 to 821 million in 2017 and 55% of the population have no access to social protection. The report stresses that climate change and inequality are two major challenges, which demand enhanced national and collective action across countries, facilitated by international organizations.

Continue reading “How China is implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”
Development Matters3 Comments
Development finance, SDGs

New Approaches to Scaling Private Sector Funding for Sustainable Development

By Sonja Gibbs, Managing Director & Head of Sustainable Finance, IIF

This blog is part of the
OECD Private Finance for Sustainable Development Conference

Welcome to 2020–the “Decade of Delivery” for the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While the international development community remains hard at work on solutions, success over the next decade will require addressing an “SDG financing gap” of $5-7 trillion per year, with emerging markets making up $2.5-3 trillion of that.  This will create tremendous opportunities for the private sector across the spectrum of investment vehicles—including foreign direct investment, listed and unlisted equity and private equity, in addition to the wide variety of debt instruments.  Indeed, given the massive buildup of debt over the past two decades—to over 320% of global GDP, from around 230% in 1999—a shift towards more non-debt financing could be a more sustainable approach to closing the gap.

With fewer than 10 years left to achieve the SDGs, many low-income countries remain very far off-target. At slightly above 50, the low-income countries median on the composite SDG index—which measures country-level performance in achieving the SDGs—remains well below that of either mature or emerging markets (though there is substantial variance among low-income countries). Continue reading “New Approaches to Scaling Private Sector Funding for Sustainable Development”

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Development finance, Green transition, Private Sector, SDGs

Why should investors care about ocean health?

by Dennis Fritsch, PhD, Researcher, Responsible Investor

This blog is part of the
OECD Private Finance for Sustainable Development Conference

Ocean health

“The World’s Oceans Are in Trouble. And So Are Humans, Warns U.N. Report” – a blaring headline in Time Magazine just after the IPCC published their landmark report Oceans and the Cryosphere in September 2019. It highlights what scientists and NGOs have been shouting from the rooftops for years: human activity has put the global ocean in a dire state and by doing so is endangering planetary life as we know it. But how has it come this far? In addition to producing over half of the oxygen we breathe, being the largest carbon sink on the planet and a haven for biodiversity, a healthy ocean is a source of economic livelihoods for billions of people. The value of global ocean assets is estimated at over USD 24 trillion[1] making it the 7th largest economy in the world in GDP terms. Due to its integral role in the global financial and environmental ecosystems, the ocean is high on the international policy agenda[2] and its importance continues to grow. The global ‘Blue Economy’ is expected to expand at twice the rate of the mainstream economy until 2030[3], and already contributes USD 2.5 trillion a year in economic output. Continue reading “Why should investors care about ocean health?”

Lia Beyeler
Development finance, Private Sector, SDGs

How Blended Finance Can Plug The SDG Financing Gap

By Jean-Philippe de Schrevel, Founder and Managing Partner of Bamboo Capital Partners

This blog is part of the
OECD Private Finance for Sustainable Development Conference

Greenlight planet - Shopkeeper

We now have just 10 years to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To date, the SDGs have been underfinanced. The annual financing gap to achieve the SDGs by 2030 currently sits at USD 2.5 trillion. The current approach is not working. Historically, financial institutions have focused on financing one or two SDGs in isolation, and this funding is often directed towards relatively low-risk investments. Collectively, we need to reconsider how we can realistically finance the SDGs by 2030, and this is where blended finance impact investment vehicles have an opportunity to shine.

Continue reading “How Blended Finance Can Plug The SDG Financing Gap”

Lia Beyeler2 Comments
Development finance, SDGs

Shifting public and private finance towards the Sustainable Development Goals 

By Paul Horrocks, Priscilla Boiardi and Valentina Bellesi, OECD Development Co-operation Directorate 

This blog is part of the OECD Private Finance for Sustainable Development Conference

dev-cooperation-puzzle-handBack in 2015, the international community committed to a shared global vision towards sustainable development – the 2030 Agenda – including 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Goals identify the areas in which resources are most needed. But with the realisation that meeting the Goals by 2030 would require filling an annual financing gap of 2.5 trillion dollars, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA) called upon a broader mobilisation of resources, including private ones.

Five years on, progress remains slow and uneven.

Three critical questions emerge from this context: How can we drive more resources towards the Goals? How can we make sure they are going where they are needed most?

And are they being used in the most effective way?

In order to guide the answers to those questions, we propose a three-step approach: Mobilisation, Alignment and Impact. Continue reading “Shifting public and private finance towards the Sustainable Development Goals “

Development Matters7 Comments
Policy, SDGs

Helping Cities and Regions achieve the SDGs: Partnering for Decentralised Development Co-operation

By Jorge Moreira da Silva, Director, OECD Development Co-operation Directorate and Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE)

 

UrbanisationAll too often international aid is viewed through the traditional lens of nation states. A rich-poor relationship of a developed country providing a one-way flow of financial assistance to a developing country to address crucial development issues, whether they are societal, economic or environmental in nature. However, the impact of these problems is acutely felt at the local level and requires global collaborative responses at the subnational level. Decentralised development co-operation (DDC) – the exchange of resources between subnational governments in developed and developing countries – offers a pragmatic and effective approach to addressing the most critical issues and to achieving the sustainable development goals.

Following the onset of the Syrian crisis, Lebanon has had to provide adequate housing and basic services to over one million refugees, or nearly 20% of the world’s total Syrian refugee population.[1] At the forefront of this daunting task are municipalities, which in most instances critically lack the resources and funding to deliver. Continue reading “Helping Cities and Regions achieve the SDGs: Partnering for Decentralised Development Co-operation”

Development Matters1 Comment
Data, SDGs

Counting the invisible: Three priorities for strengthening statistical capacities in the SDG era

By Johannes Jütting, Executive Head PARIS21, Rolando Avendano, Economist, Asian Development Bank and Manuel Kuhm, Research Support Officer (PARIS21)

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Better policies need better data. High-quality data and official statistics are vital for governments, civil society, the private sector and the public to make informed decisions, create effective polices, and establish good governance. Under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, data-driven policy making takes on even greater significance. For if we are to “leave no one behind”, we must first ensure that everyone is counted.

Yet today, more than 110 low and middle-income countries lack functional civil registration and vital statistics systems and under-record or omit vital events of specific populations. Those living in poverty are most likely to be excluded—the poorest 20% of the global population account for 55% of unregistered births. Only 37 countries have statistical legislation that complies with the United Nations (UN) Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics.

If we don’t even know who the poorest are, how can we ensure that they aren’t left behind?

At the same time, while a global Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator framework is an essential part of Agenda 2030, it is putting pressure on national statistical systems. In addition to the demand of compiling 232 national-level indicators, the Agenda requires that data are disaggregated by income, sex and gender, geography, age and disability, far beyond current capacity in many developing countries. Continue reading “Counting the invisible: Three priorities for strengthening statistical capacities in the SDG era”

Development Matters
Africa, Français, Human Development, Policy, SDGs, Security

Et si la crise sécuritaire du Sahel était aussi (voire avant tout) économique ?

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Par Maman Sambo Sidikou, Secrétaire permanent du G5 Sahel[1]

Ce blog fait partie d’une série marquant
le 19e Forum économique international sur l’Afrique

pablo-tosco-oxfam-flickr
Femme tirant de l’eau d’un puits en Natriguel, Mauritanie. Photo: Pablo Tosco/Oxfam/Flickr

Le Sahel vit un tournant, une accélération de l’histoire dont le coût humain est élevé. Nos jeunes pays connaissent une croissance démographique sans précédent. Notre population est de plus en plus jeune et de plus en plus urbaine. Même si elle est élevée, la croissance économique ne permet pas de répondre aux attentes des habitants de plus en plus nombreux. Sur nos vastes territoires, certaines interrogations se font aujourd’hui pressantes. Pourquoi, alors que la « frontière » est la marque de l’État, sa présence y est-elle si discrète ? Quelle attention est accordée aux citoyens vivant loin des capitales ? Comment, lorsque l’on est absent, être perçu comme « légitime », digne de confiance et capable de changer le cours des choses ? C’est à ces questions que nos États et sociétés doivent répondre. Continue reading “Et si la crise sécuritaire du Sahel était aussi (voire avant tout) économique ?”

Lia Beyeler
Gender, Women and Girls, Policy, SDGs, Social Protection

Tackling Employer-Supported Childcare: A journey from why to how

By Rudaba Zehra Nasir, Global Lead for Tackling Childcare and Women’s Employment, IFC Gender Secretariat [@RudabaNasir]

The OECD Policy Dialogue on Women’s Economic Empowerment aims to generate evidence and guidance for policy makers and development partners on how to unlock women’s economic potential. The latest publication, “Enabling Women’s Economic Empowerment: New approaches to unpaid care work in developing countries”, presents evidence-based analysis and policy guidance on what works to recognise, reduce and redistribute women’s unpaid care work and achieve SDG 5.4 as an entry point for promoting women’s economic empowerment in developing countries. Accessible quality childcare is one solution where both governments and the private sector can contribute, as explored further in this blog.

Gender blog 2

My son calls me ‘Aunty’

Shazia, a mother to a toddler, migrated to Dhaka to work at a garment factory. “When I visit my village, my son calls me ‘Aunty,’” she says, with tears in her eyes. Separated from his mother for long periods of time, the son barely knows her.

I met Shazia last year at the factory where she works. She feels conflicted about leaving her son in her mother-in-law’s care. “Sometimes I think about quitting my job and going back to raise him myself.”

Shazia is not alone. The more parents we talk to in focus groups, interviews and surveys from Bangladesh to Fiji, the more it becomes clear that they share similar stories. Parents report feeling stressed and guilty, taking time off from work or being present but not productive, quitting due to lack of family-friendly workplace support, and low levels of awareness and trust in available childcare options.

Continue reading “Tackling Employer-Supported Childcare: A journey from why to how”

Lia Beyeler
Policy, SDGs

What does public procurement have to do with sustainability?

LJD

By Professor Barbara De Donno, LUISS Guido Carli, Dr Livia Ventura, LUISS Guido Carli, and Andrea De Maio, EPLO 

This blog is part of a special series exploring subjects at the core of the Human-Centred Business Model (HCBM). The HCMB seeks to develop an innovative – human-centred – business model
based on a common, holistic and integrated set of economic, social, environmental and ethical rights-based principles. Read more about the HCBM here, and check out an event about it here
The HCBM project originated in 2015 within the World Bank’s Global Forum on Law, Justice and Development and is now based at the OECD’s Development Centre

Green-cityThe global financial crisis brought significant economic, social and political changes. It fostered the transition from a shareholders’ capitalism model to a new form of stakeholders’ capitalism, moving from maximising shareholders’ wealth to measuring a company’s social responsibility and environmental impact along with its economic value.

The economic, social and environmental dimensions characterise the “triple bottom line” approach, and are at the core of the inclusive and sustainable economic growth promoted by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and captured, more generally, by the sustainable development concept of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Implementing this ambitious agenda requires strong co-operation amongst governments, the private sector and the civil society. Indeed, the importance of the business sector as a force for social change is, nowadays, undisputed and the role of enterprises in creating equitable and sustainable economic growth has gained traction in recent years. Consequently, governments worldwide have enacted statutes and adopted policies to foster a sustainable business ecosystem. And part of this ecosystem for greater sustainability is different forms of public “preferred procurement.”

Public procurement is when governments and state-owned enterprises purchase goods, services and works. It is a key factor in the economy and represents a strategic policy lever for states to drive innovation and change down through supply chains. Public procurement represents approximately 12% of GDP on average in OECD countries, almost 30% of total government expenditures, and up to 25-30 % of GDP in developing countries. Thus, it has a high impact on a country’s economic development and can play a critical role in promoting the inclusive and sustainable economic growth endorsed by the SDGs. Currently, public procurement – which is generally guided by the principles of fairness, transparency, openness and non-discrimination – is increasingly inspired by several forms of “preferred procurement”, such as “green procurement”, “social procurement” and “sustainable procurement”. Continue reading “What does public procurement have to do with sustainability?”

Development Matters1 Comment