New report launched at Davos highlights five practical actions for businesses in achieving the SDGs
Launched at Davos, the Business & Sustainable Development Commission’s Finance Working Group findings outline a series of recommendations for regulators and business leaders to build a system to finance the $2-3 trillion of additional investment per year required to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
How can $2-3 trillion of additional investment per year be unlocked out of a global GDP of approximately $ 115 trillion? This is what is required to acheive the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and central to the Better Business, Better World report, released by the Business & Sustainable Development Commission. As part of this initiative, the Commission’s Finance Working Group findings, Ideas for Action for a long-term and Sustainable Financial System, co-authored by Hendrik du Toit, CEO of Investec Asset Management, Mark Wilson, CEO of Aviva, and Aniket Shah, Programme Leader of Sustainable Finance at the UN SDSN, argue that the financial system must be oriented towards long-term and sustainable outcomes and outlines a series of key findings and recommendations for regulators and business leaders in building a system which is aligned with sustainable development.
Recognising that financing the SDGs is a complex task, the report highlights that an unprecedented coordination between public sector organisation and private institutions is required, including significant reform within global financial regulation and financial institutions. Highlighted are the importance of the business community’s twin roles, both in terms of creating new financial products, instruments and technologies needed at all scales for the SDGs to be financed and also as partners in working alongside governments, making the reforms necessary to the financial system in order for global savings pools to be more effectively aligned with global investment needs.
The paper identifies five areas of specific focus; firstly, the alignment of financial regulation with sustainable development; standardising and mandating sustainability reporting for corporations; getting sustainable infrastructure investment right; supporting the formation of long-term pools of risk capital; and finally supporting financial innovation that accelerates inclusion.
Commenting on the findings, co-author and member of the Commission Hendrik du Toit said, “As stewards of long-term capital on behalf of this generation, we cannot ignore the welfare of future generations. The investment industry and its clients can support the achievement of the SDGs by creating simple, standardized sustainability metrics integral to the investment process. We also need new streamlined partnerships with governments and communities that can reduce risks for everyone and bring more private investment at lower cost into sustainable infrastructure development.“
View the full report here.
More about the global commission on business and sustainable development
Launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos last year, The Global Commission on Business and Sustainable Development was established by Unilever CEO Paul Polman and former United Nations Deputy Secretary General Mark Malloch-Brown. The mandate of the Commssion is to articulate and quantify the compelling economic case for businesses to engage in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These recommendations for the finance industry run alongside the findings of the Commission’s main report, therelease of which is timed with the World Economic Forum in Davos and the U.S. presidential inauguration. – in which over 35 CEOs and civil society leaders argue that sustainable business models could open economic opportunities worth up to US$12 trillion and increase employment by up to 380 million jobs by 2030, and the means by which this could be achieved. While the opportunities are compelling, the Business Commission makes it clear that two critical conditions must be met to build these new markets, most importantly that innovative financing from both private and public sources will be needed to unlock the US$2.4 trillion required annually to achieve the Global Goals.
