UN calls for sustainable industrial transformation to meet ambitious climate targets

New Delhi: The United Nation on Wednesday called for a “sustainable industrial transformation” to meet ambitious climate targets, and reach Sustainable Development Goals by 2030

The agency in its new Report, ” The 2023 Financing for Sustainable Development Report: Financing Sustainable Transformations” found that SDG financing needs are growing, but development financing is not keeping pace.

The report said, “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 SDGs.

“If left unaddressed, a great finance divide will translate into a lasting sustainable development divide,” it said.

“Stakeholders must maintain a long-term focus on resilient and inclusive development while addressing near-term crises… adding that delaying investment in sustainable transformations is not an option”.

The report also suggests three sets of actions: First, scale up development cooperation and SDG investment, second, strengthen the international financial architecture and third, accelerate national sustainable industrial transformations.

“Without the means to invest in sustainable development and transform their energy and food systems, developing countries are falling even further behind,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in the foreword to the report.

Some of the necessary changes are already taking place, the report highlights. The energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine has spurred investment in the global energy transition, which skyrocketed in 2022 to a record $1.1 trillion.

Climate change, the war in Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic, and debt payments up to two times higher than in 2019, have combined to put massive fiscal pressures on most developing countries, limiting the ability to fund transformation.

“Using post-pandemic spending as a comparison, in developed countries the average was $12,200 per capita – 30 times higher than for developing countries (that’s $410), and 610 times higher than for least developed countries (just $20)” said the agency.

“Without delivering a reformed international financial system while scaling up investments in the SDGs, we will not deliver on our shared commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” said United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed.