More from UN DESA - April 2021

Transfer pricing – helping countries get their fair share

Correct transfer pricing can help developing countries fight tax avoidance and profit shifting by big transnational corporations, ensuring more funds to spend on public health and recovery from the shock of COVID-19. But what is transfer pricing?

It refers to an accounting practice where related companies, such as affiliates or subsidiaries, charge each other for goods or services rendered across borders. The relationship between the companies means that the companies can overcharge or undercharge each other in order to shift profits to territories with little or no taxation.

We need effective institutions to get out of this crisis

Conflict, insecurity, weak institutions and limited access to justice remain a great threat to sustainable development. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored these challenges, creating disruptions to the functioning of governments and their delivery of critical functions, including the provision of basic services, law enforcement and a functioning justice system. In many countries, temporary changes in rules and processes have been implemented in order to protect people at greatest risk and to ensure effective delivery of such functions.

Setting the sights on a carbon neutral future

Achieving a zero-carbon future may seem to some like a wild ask, but some of the world’s biggest countries and corporations are already envisioning the financial and environmental benefits of carbon neutrality. For instance, the government of China has said it will aim to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, and General Motors, the largest U.S. automaker, has announced plans to be carbon-neutral by 2040.