In the 2023 Report on Financing Sustainable Development: Financing Sustainable Transformation, released recently, the UN said urgent and massive investments are needed to accelerate electricity supply, industry, agriculture, transport, and buildings in developing countries
In the 2023 Report on Financing Sustainable Development: Financing Sustainable Transformation, released recently, the UN said urgent and massive investments are needed to accelerate electricity supply, industry, agriculture, transport, and buildings in developing countries.
In the foreword to the report, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that developing countries urgently needed to rebuild global cooperation and find solutions to current crises through multilateral action. The report pointed out the necessary changes were already underway. The global energy transition investments soared to a record US$1.1 trillion in 2022 mainly due to the war in Ukraine. Significantly , the report pointed out that the energy transition investments surpassed investments in fossil fuel systems for the first time in 2022. But that trend is mostly due to China’s investments and that of developed countries. The lack of resources the developing countries could command was pointed out as the reason for tardy investments for the transition.
The Report also underscored the reasons for the lack of investments in the energy transition, such as climate change, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic, and debt repayment obligations. The combined effect of these limited their ability to invest in sustainable transformation.
The report calls for a new generation of sustainable industrial policies to scale up investment. Opportunities for inclusive growth exist in agribusiness, green energy, and industry, the report points out, adding that rapid adoption of technology, sustainable industrialization, and growth are prerequisite for growth. It also highlighted that between 2021 and 2022, 338 million more people used the Internet regularly, an increase of about 38,600 more people per hour. Moreover, in regions with high-quality connected services, 44% of all firms are exporters. Wherever internet services are weaker, only 19% of firms exported.
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Slides in productive capacity remained uneven, the report pointed out. In Africa’s least developed countries, value addition in manufacturing has fallen from around 10% of GDP in 2000 to 9% in 2021, instead of doubling in line with the SDG target.
