UN: The new green industrial era can be the breakthrough to achieve the sustainable development goals

In the midst of the growing energy and food crisis, the uncertainty of the global economic outlook and the increasing impact of climate change, today the United Nations has said that a sustainable industrial transformation is necessary to reduce the development gap between different countries. , meet climate goals and achieve sustainable development goals.

He Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2023: Financing Sustainable Transformationsaffirms that urgent and massive investments are needed to accelerate the transformations, which include electricity supply, industry, agriculture and buildings.

“Without the necessary means to invest in sustainable development and transform their energy and food systems, developing countries are being left behind,” said the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, in the foreword to this report. “A dual world divided between the haves and the have-nots is a clear and obvious danger to any country. We urgently need to restore global cooperation and find solutions to the current crisis by acting multilaterally.”

According to the report, some of the necessary changes are already taking place. The energy crisis caused by the War in Ukraine has stimulated investment for the global energy transition, which in 2022 reached a record figure of 1.1 trillion dollars. Investments for the energy transition surpassed those for fossil fuel systems for the first time in 2022, but almost all of them took place in China and developed countries.

The Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2023 shows that most developing countries do not have the resources to invest, unlike their counterparts, developed countries. Climate change, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic, and debt payments up to twice as high as 2019 have all combined to put maximum tax pressure on most developing countries. This limits their ability to invest in sustainable transformation.

In developed countries in 2020 and 2021, for example, post-pandemic recovery spending was $12,200 per capita. This was 30 times higher than that of developing countries (410 USD) and 610 times higher than that of less developed countries (20 USD).

“If we do not deliver a reformed international financial system while scaling up investments in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we will not deliver on the shared commitment of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development,” said the United Nations Deputy Secretary General, Amina Mohammed. “The good news is that we know what to do and how to do it. From launching critical transformations in energy, food and education to ushering in a new digital and green industrial era, we all need to pick up the pace leaving no one behind.”

The Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2023 points out that industrialization has historically been a source of progress, economic growth, job creation, technological development and poverty reduction. The report calls for a new generation of sustainable industrial policies, supported by integrated national planning, to scale up investments and lay the foundations for the necessary transformations. In the agriculture, green energy, and manufacturing industries, there are many opportunities for inclusive growth.

The recent rapid acceptance of technology points to the possibility of an equally rapid transition to sustainable growth and industrialization. Between 2021 and 2022, more than 338 million people used the Internet regularly, an increase of approximately 38,600 more people every hour. In addition, in regions with high-quality related services, 44 percent of companies are exporters, as opposed to 19 percent in those where Internet services are poorer.

However, manufacturing capacity remains uneven. In the least developed countries of Africa, manufacturing value added, instead of doubling in line with SDG target 9.2, fell from around 10% of GDP in 2000 to 9% in 2021. Specific policies will be needed to build national productive capacity to achieve low carbon transitions, create decent jobs and boost economic growth while ensuring gender equality.

To provide the necessary resources for this transformation, the Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2023 calls for a combination of strengthening tax systems, activating and catalyzing private investment, and expanding international public investment and development cooperation. Changes in the international financial architecture are also necessary to secure sufficient resources.

The report indicates that the international system is currently undergoing the biggest rethinking of international finance, monetary, trade, and tax systems since the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944. As international institutions work to adapt to rapidly changing needs, countries, the report warns that if the reforms are partial, incomplete or do not take into account the SDGs, sustainable development cannot be achieved.

An effective and reformed international financial architecture that provides for sustainable transformation must include revised schemes for:

• international tax regulations, including tax rules for globalized and digitized businesses that meet the needs of developing countries;

• the normative and regulatory frameworks that best combine the profitability of the private sector with sustainability;

• the evolution of the scale and mission of the development banking system;

• a climate change loss and damage fund, which must be put in place quickly;

• Debt relief and a major improvement in the international debt resolution architecture, as 60% of low-income countries are in or at risk of debt distress;

• multilateral trade rules to review the approach and resolve current tensions in relation to green subsidies.

“We have the solutions to avoid a division of lasting sustainable development and prevent the loss of a decade of development,” said the United Nations Assistant Secretary General, Li Junhua, head of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, in charge of the preparation of the inter-institutional report. “We must find the necessary political will to overcome the growing

political tensions, the breakdown of alliances between countries and the worrying trend towards nationalism and seize the present moment to urgently invest in our common future.

rmation:

• Complete document. Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2023: Financing Sustainable Transformations (in English).

Notes to Editors:

• The Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2023: the Financing of Sustainable Transformations is the result of the joint work of the Inter-Agency Working Group on Financing for Development, which is made up of more than 60 United Nations Agencies and international organizations. The Office of Financing for Sustainable Development of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations acts as coordinator and main editor of the Working Group, in close collaboration with the World Bank, the IMF, the World Trade Organization, the Conference of the United Nations Organization for Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). The Working Group was established by the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and is chaired by Mr. Li Junhua, Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The full copy of the report will be available at https://developmentfinance.un.org/fsdr2023 on April 5, 2023.

• The report lays the groundwork for the dialogue of the Forum on Financing for Development of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) where the Member States will discuss the necessary measures to mobilize sustainable financing. Negotiations based on the report are underway. The report also updates the Fair on Investments in SDGsa platform that brings together government officials and investors to pursue sustainable investment opportunities that help achieve the SDG targets.

• The report covers, among others, the areas of global economic context; trade, debt, finance and private companies; technology and cooperation for international development.