UN Report: Architecture to Finance Sustainable Development.

The United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Financing for Development (IATF) has published the 2019 Report on Financing for Sustainable Development. The report introduces “integrated national funding frameworks” to help countries align their financing policies with their strategies and priorities. The authors also call for “reorienting” the global institutional architecture to create a more sustainable global economy.

The IATF report is the basis for discussion at the annual United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Forum on Monitoring Development Financing (FfD Forum). The report assesses the implementation of international agreements on financing for development, such as the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA), and the means of implementation contained in the Sustainable Development Agenda on the horizon 2030, both of which were adopted in 2015. IATF was mandated in the AAAA, is led by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and has 60 agencies and institutions. The 2019 edition is the fourth report on the financing of sustainable development.

In its assessment of the state of sustainable finance, the 2019 report indicates that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals cannot be achieved without a reshaping of national and international financial systems. He noted that in some countries, investments have grown in strength and that interest in sustainable investment is growing – indeed, “there is progress to be made”, as stated by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, in his foreword. But in many other countries, investments are declining and 30 developing countries are either at high risk of debt distress or already at risk. In addition, tax revenues are ineffective, inequality has increased in countries where most people live, wage growth is at its lowest since 2008, confidence in the multilateral system is eroding, and emissions are rising. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions increased by 1.3% in 2006. 2017

These indications show that “we are not achieving inclusive and sustainable growth for all,” writes the Secretary-General, and that the transition to a sustainable economy “is not happening at the scale required,” say the report’s authors. The report contains policy recommendations to put in place financial support systems to change the current trajectory, beyond just increasing investments. The architects note that the new global institutional architecture would make global finance and the economy more sustainable, he notes.

The chapters of the report cover:

• The global economic context and its implications for the SDGs
• Integrated National Financing Frameworks for Sustainable Development;
• Progress in AAAA’s seven “areas of action” (national public resources, national and international
• business and private finance, international cooperation for development, international trade as a
• the driver of development, debt and debt sustainability, treatment systemic issues, and science,
• technology, innovation and capacity building) and
• Data, monitoring and follow-up.
• The report places particular emphasis on five sustainable development goals that will be discussed at the July 2019 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) session
• Goal 4 (Quality Education), Goal 8 (Decent Work) and economic growth), Goal 10 (reducing inequality), Goal 13 (climate action) and Goal 16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions).

The 2019 report also includes a “data-rich progress tracking”, whose underlying data and analysis is included in an online annex. The annex also covers a series of eleven “cross-cutting initiatives that build on synergies” of the Sustainable Development Goals, following a request by the Member States for the results of the 2018 Development Finance Forum. here are:

• Provide social protection and essential public services;
• Eliminate hunger and malnutrition;
• Bridging the infrastructure gap
• Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization;
• Generate full and productive employment for all
• Protect ecosystems
• Promote peaceful and inclusive societies;
• Gender equality;
• Invest in children and young people Respond to the diverse needs and challenges of countries in particular situations
• Global partnership
  This year’s FfD Forum will be held April 15-18, 2019 in New York, USA. Meanwhile, an SDG Investment Fair will also be held at UN Headquarters