“Waste not, want not” expresses the rationale behind the circular economy model, which aims to maximize the use and value of all resources in circulation, today and into the future. Closely aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, this model is increasingly incorporated in government, business and citizen plans and initiatives.
The human race has achieved much success, but at what cost to the environment? Increasingly, public and private sectors are acknowledging the extent of human encroachment on nature and refocusing to ensure sustainability objectives are embedded in future policies, plans and investments, recognizing the economic value of nature as capital.
The Sustainable Development Goals provide a blueprint for achieving inclusivity and sustainability, and participation from the financial sector is crucial. COVID-19 has complicated efforts to accomplish the SDGs by 2030 in the Asia-Pacific region, but ESCAP, empowered by innovation, is partnering with public and private sectors to succeed.
Global upheavals on the scale of COVID-19 inevitably change “business as usual” permanently. Once the lockdown lifts, the reboot will begin, but how will it look? New approaches to evaluating risk and return will be needed to traverse the new financial landscape and efforts to scale up investments to reach the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals even more critical. How we approach the challenge and build sustainability into the recovery plans will be of great consequence and essential to improving resilience against future global threats.
A key global initiative that currently unites much of the world is the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Launched by the United Nations back in 2015, Agenda 2030 is an action plan for “people, the planet and prosperity”, which countries and stakeholders, acting in collaborative partnership, have pledged to implement.
In January 2016, the 17 SDGs of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development came into force, aiming to end such conditions as poverty, inequality, repercussions of climate change. Agreeing to these lofty goals was one thing; actualizing them is another. Further investment, to the tune of $2.5 trillion for developing economies alone, is one of the main hang-ups. Can the private sector assist its finance partners in closing the gap?