Financing Sustainable Transformation: how industry and sustainability can come together

At the halfway point to the 2030 Agenda, vulnerable countries have been left reeling by multiple global shocks. The war in Ukraine, sharp increases in food and energy prices, and rapidly tightening financial conditions have increased hunger and poverty and reversed progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

SDG financing needs are growing and timely investments in sustainable industrial, energy and digital transformations are imperative to get the world back on track. The 2023 Financing for Sustainable Development Report: Financing Sustainable Transformation (2023 FSDR), to be launched on 5 April, will argue that countries need a new generation of industrial policies to put the global goals within reach.

The development of eco-industrial parks is an example of how countries can scale up both environmental sustainability and industrial development. MM 2100 Industrial Town is a newly developed eco-industrial park outside of Jakarta built with the support of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and donors. MM 2100 employs 100,000 workers in its 805-hectare site with latest initiatives including a composting programme and state-of-the-art wastewater treatment.

Ms. Susi Rahmawati, Manager of Customer Service and Legal Affairs, is especially proud of the “vocational training school, maintained by our tenant companies on a voluntary basis” where, she notes, 2500 students “increase their employability, whether at one of the park’s companies or beyond”.

Making industrial parks greener and more socially responsible is an important step towards a sustainable economy. Eco-industrial parks are an example of the new generation of industrial policies that the 2023 FSDR argues are needed to provide a pathway towards sustainable growth.

Beyond these policies, the 2023 FSDR will also argue for reform of the international financial architecture, so that the international environment better enables achievement of the SDGs. The report will also analyse international progress on finance topics such as debt relief, aid delivery, science and technology, taxation, banking regulation, and sustainable public and private investment, and set out concrete recommendations for Member States.

The 2023 FSDR will serve as the main substantive input for the ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development taking place in New York from 17-20 April. The FFD Forum will bring together representatives from governments, civil society, and the private sector to discuss how to urgently increase investment in sustainable development, reform the international financial architecture, and support a new generation of sustainable industrial policies.

An SDG Investment Fair will also take place from 18-20 April, providing a platform for sustainable investment opportunities that support the achievement of the SDGs. Now on its 8^th year, the Fair will connect investors, private and public institutions, and representatives from UN agencies to facilitate dealmaking and provide funding and technical support in SDG-related investment projects.

The 2023 Financing for Sustainable Development Report will be available on 5 April at developmentfinance.un.org/fsdr2023