By United Nations Development Programme
Influential corporate leaders and fund managers from around the world recently held an inaugural meeting in New York in preparation to launch the world’s first unified initiative to identify, authenticate, and measure the impact of investments that advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“Achieving the SDGs will require investment on an unprecedented scale—which we cannot afford not to make. That means unlocking private capital by helping enterprises and investors identify and report on SDG-aligned business opportunities,” UNDP Administrator and SDG Impact Steering Group Chair Achim Steiner told Steering Group members at UNDP headquarters on 20 June.
“The US$12 trillion needed to achieve the SDGs exists, but isn’t yet going where it’s needed most. SDG Impact, with guidance from our eminent Steering Group, will fill a critical gap by standardizing how companies and investors evaluate, and report on corporate commitments to the SDGs.”
By establishing consistent SDG standards for assets managers, enterprises, and bond issuers, SDG Impact aims to mainstream capital into agriculture, cities, energy, and health, catalyzing up to US$1 trillion annually in private investment to achieve the goals. According to the Business Commission on Sustainable Development at Davos, achieving the SDGs could open up an estimated US$12 trillion in market opportunities and create 380 million new jobs.
“The SDGs are the business plan for people and the planet,” Anna Ryott, a Steering Group member and Board Chair of Stockholm-based Summa Equity, said. “Investments can be both profitable and sustainable. SDG Impact will help to streamline the process of identifying these opportunities, as well as measuring and certifying their impact.”
All 193 United Nations Member States came together in 2015 to endorse the SDGs—17 specific, time-bound targets aimed not simply at halting or mitigating threats to people and planet but at creating a better world for all. Achieving the goals in developing countries will likely require investments of about US$2.5 trillion per year, far more than what governments or foreign assistance can deliver.
