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UN DESA Policy Brief Special Issue: Financing the Sustainable Development Goals through mission-oriented development banks

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Photo credit: Andreas Gücklhorn/unsplash
Policy Brief Date: 08 September 2023
Author(s):

Mariana Mazzucato (PhD) is Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London (UCL), where she is Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose. She advises policymakers around the world on innovation-led inclusive and sustainable growth. Her current roles include being member of the UN High-level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs, Chair of the World Health Organization's Council on the Economics of Health for All, Co-Chair of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, a member of the South African President’s Economic Advisory Council.

Category: Economic Analysis and Policy, Financing for Development, Sustainable Development
Policy Brief File:
PB_Special-Issue_HLAB_September_2023.pdf 1.39 MB
Sustainable Development Goals:
7 Affordable and Clean Energy
9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
17 Partnerships for the Goals

Special issue in collaboration with the United Nations High-level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs

Abstract

There is an urgent need for channeling long-term risk-tolerant finance towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The paper argues that National Development Banks (NDBs) and Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) can play a crucial role in mobilizing the needed capital but only if an outcomes oriented ‘mission-oriented’ approach is adopted to galvanize, catalyze, and crowd in substantial global public and private finance (scaling it up from billions to trillions). Missions help transform broad SDG related challenges, like global health and climate change, into investment pathways where strong publicly set goals crowd in private investment. Key is to make sure that strong conditions around reciprocity determine equitable and just partnerships and direct public and private finance towards inclusive and sustainable outcomes. Low-income countries which continue to face stringent international credit conditions can benefit from diverting resources from debt repayment towards development goals, while high-income countries can unlock financialised and hoarded capital for sustainable development.

Mariana Mazzucato (PhD) is Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London (UCL), where she is Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose. She advises policymakers around the world on innovation-led inclusive and sustainable growth. Her current roles include being member of the UN High-level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs, Chair of the World Health Organization's Council on the Economics of Health for All, Co-Chair of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, a member of the South African President’s Economic Advisory Council.