The UN Sustainable Development Goals will not be achieved in 2030.
Worldwide interest in the UN 2030 Sustainable Development goals has been on a rising trend since its launch in September 2015. Good news indeed. The global additional investment required to achieve these universal goals has sadly not followed the same trend.
Incremental investments of the order of 3 to 4 trillion USD per year are required to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Current investment trends point to a 9 to 10 trillion dollar investment gap between now and 2030 or an annual deficit of around 700 to 800 billion USD.
In 2018 private participation in infrastructure investments in low and middle-income countries was 90 billion USD, 9 percent below the previous 5-year average. Clearly, we are not on track to meet the UN sustainable development goals by 2030. So what more can be done? Two areas to consider are:
- Focus on implementing national strategies by developing holistic national financing frameworks as recommended in this recent UN report.
- Improve infrastructure performance as suggested in this report.
We can hope for the best. But the reality is, hope is not a rational strategy. It will take more than ‘hope’ to get back on track.
