By Zayamu Hassan
In an effort to ensure that attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in developing countries, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, has met with top business executives at the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Global Investors for Sustainable Development (GISD) Alliance to present transformative solutions for bridging the annual financing gap of $4.3 trillion.
“The large and persistent SDG financing gap must spur our collective effort to scale up private finance and investment for the SDGs. There is no time to waste. We cannot afford for the SDGs to fall out of reach,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
The concurrent global crises including the war in Ukraine, climate change and the continuous impact of COVID-19 have resulted in an increasingly challenging investment ecosystem.
The multiple crises also threaten to derail the progress of the SDGs, the world’s best response to creating healthier and more equal societies.
The GISD Alliance, convened by the Secretary-General in 2019, consists of prominent business leaders from across the world (including the heads of Standard Chartered, Pimco, Citibank and Investec).
The Alliance, according to a statement obtain by this newspaper, seeks to align, scale up, and accelerate finance and investment for the 17 Goals.
The GISD Alliance is led by co-Chairs Leila Fourie, Chief Executive Officer of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and José Viñals, Group Chairman of Standard Chartered.
“In the past year, building on pivotal work done in the preceding years, the GISD Alliance has focused on setting conditions for the scaling up of long-term private finance for sustainable development investment (SDI).
“This was accomplished through the development of a credible definition for SDI, SDG-aligned metrics, a Model Mandate to assist in developing SDI strategies, making input into the development of a set of global sustainability reporting standards, and a roadmap for necessary MDB reforms,” said Leila Fourie.
“Over the next twelve months, the GISD Alliance will continue to scale up these efforts and embark on new initiatives, launching a transformational blended finance platform that will allow for co-investment in sustainable infrastructure projects,” added José Viñals.
“We will also continue our engagement with global stakeholders to advance the reforms necessary to unlock finance and investment for sustainable development in support of the SDGs.”
The statement further explained that, to facilitate the flow of investments to developing countries, the Alliance is advocating for more effective private capital mobilization by multilateral development banks and the international development system.
GISD Members have made recommendations on changes to governance and business models of development banks and enhanced blended finance structures.
Since its launch, the Alliance has developed standards and tools to align investment portfolios with the SDGs, including a unified definition of Sustainable Development Investing (SDI) and SDG-aligned, sector-specific metrics that strengthen reporting and enable a credible comparison of SDG performance within and across industries.
The GISD Alliance has also submitted a collective response to the public consultation of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), which was established at COP26, to develop a comprehensive global baseline of sustainability disclosures for capital markets.
