The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals come with a heavy price tag for developing nations. According to recent data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, it is a burden that they cannot afford.
The OECD reports that developing nations face a shortfall of about $4.2 trillion if they want to keep on track with the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. If just 1.1% of the total assets held by banks, institutional investors, and/or asset managers were reallocated into ventures that support meeting the SDGs for developing nations, that would be sufficient to fill the financing gap.
A partnership of UN initiatives has come up with an investor’s tool that it hopes will lure investment capital into ventures that support the SDGs. The tool is called the SDG Investor Platform and it was jointly created by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) allied with the UN Secretary-General’s Global Investors for Sustainable Development (GISD) Alliance.
SDG Investor Maps—created by UNDP’s SDG Finance initiative SDG Impact—leverage UNDP’s presence in more than 170 countries and territories, providing private sector investors with access to national-level market intelligence, including insights on the local investment landscape and investor connections.
The tool will allow investors to boost their profits and impact sustainability with a single investment. So far, it has identified over 200 promising investment opportunities in 14 countries that cover sectors ranging from food and beverage to healthcare and infrastructure. The future development of SDG Investor Maps is expected to include all continents.
“UNDP’s new SDG Investor Platform provides the critical data, insights and tools that investors need to drive new levels of capital toward the Sustainable Development Goals,” said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. “In doing so, it will also help countries to unlock critical financing that is now needed to build forward better from the COVID-19 pandemic—ultimately advancing the well-being of both people and planet.”
This article is based on the following press release by the UNDP: https://www.undp.org/press-releases/undp-and-gisd-alliance-launch-sdg-investor-platform-unlock-trillions-sdg-aligned
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