An HLPF ‘Pop-up’ Side Event to launch SF’s sdg2030 paper no. 2 – ‘Financing for the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement: The UN Ecosystem of Initiatives on Private Sector Finance’

On July 13, 2021, on the virtual sidelines of the 2021 United Nations High-level Forum on Sustainable Development in New York – the HLPF, Stakeholder Forum and New World Frontiers held an HLPF ‘Pop-up’ Side Event to launch a new paper:

Financing for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement: The UN Ecosystem of Initiatives on Private Sector Finance

 

A recording of that side event can be found here.  The presentations, a single PDF file, here, and relevant content from the webinar chatbox can be found here.

About the paper:

This timely paper is an overview of the UN Ecosystem of Initiatives on the private sector finance role in helping to finance the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. The delivery of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has been estimated by several organizations, from the World Bank to the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, to be in the region of US$3-$5 trillion annually. This dwarfs the contribution from Overseas Development aid, which is in the region of US$150 billion annually.

The financing for the SDGs and the Paris Agreement will need a refocusing of private sector finance. In that context, this paper explores the state of the UN ecosystem of initiatives on private sector finance in support of this.

The realignment of private sector finance to support sustainable development and to stop funding activities that take us in the wrong direction has accelerated since the 2012 Rio+20 conference, the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (2015), the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, and the Paris Agreement.

2021 has seen action on fossil fuel company boards where, recently, three directors committing to move them towards renewables (EXXON-Mobile) have been elected. And a Netherlands court ruled that the Royal Dutch Shell company needs to slash its greenhouse gas emissions. Moody’s estimated in 2019 that the total green bond market was heading to $250 billion with the COVID recovery packages being built around green technology; this is going to increase substantively in the coming years.

Moderated by Charles Nouhan, Chairman, Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future, the expert panel included a number of the authors of this timely document:

Felix Dodds, Adjunct Professor at the University of North Carolina, USA, a contributor to and editor of the paper

Krishnan Sharma, Chief, Strategic Engagement Unit, Financing for Sustainable Development Office, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs

Olcay Patrycja Tetik, Knowledge Management, and Communications Specialist at the United Nations Development Programme SDG Finance Sector Hub

Marie Morice, Head of Sustainable Finance United Nations Global Compact

Tony Bonnici, Officer in Charge Cooperation and Partnerships Section, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

Raymond Landveld, Economic Affairs Officer, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, New York Office

Liesel Van Ast, Membership and Regional Co-ordination Manager, United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative