By Paul Homewood
h/t Dennis Ambler
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly announced this week that the UK will push to unlock global finance and help developing countries invest to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
According to Cleverly, the spotlight will be on improving the global financial system, including making it easier for developing countries to access funds and invest in their own sustainable development. Cleverly also insisted on the UK’s support for climate preparedness and improved access to education worldwide.
Climate change, the threat of pandemics, and stagnant economic growth are some of the biggest challenges facing the world’s most vulnerable and require a united global effort to tackle.
Unlocking more finance from international financial institutions and the private sector will be critical if we are to achieve those goals and the UK is already playing a key role by mobilizing private investment, improving global tax systems, and future-proofing for climate change – including through the UK’s recent US$ 2 billion commitment to the Green Climate Fund.
The UK is announcing pledges and reforms that will unlock billions of pounds in global finance and support developing countries investing in their future to boost sustainable development goals.
As representatives of global governments gather for the Sustainable Development Goals Summit, the Foreign Secretary further underlined new financial guarantees for Multilateral Development Banks to help the UK’s overseas aid go further and multiply its impact by unlocking more affordable loans.
Through one of these guarantees, the UK will help unlock up to US$ 1.8 billion of climate finance to support at-risk populations across Asia and the Pacific in adapting to the impacts of climate change and increase their resilience to natural disasters. It will help accelerate their transition from fossil fuels to low-carbon energy sources, demonstrating how sustainable economic growth and development can go hand-in-hand.
“The extra finance needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals is estimated to be around US$ 4 trillion annually. We urgently need bold global action to build a bigger, better, and fairer international financial system that helps close this gap,” Cleverly said.
The UK is providing a guarantee of up to $300 million to the Innovative Finance Facility for Climate in Asia and the Pacific (IFCAP). We estimate this will unlock $1.2 to $1.8 billion in additional climate financing over the next 5 years, meaning around a 4 to 6-time return of increased climate finance compared to our guarantee commitment. The Innovative Finance Facility for Climate in Asia and the Pacific (IFCAP) is a multi-donor financing partnership facility set up by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) with the goal of scaling-up finance for accelerated action against climate change in Asia and the Pacific.
https://en.mercopress.com/2023/09/22/uk-favors-additional-financing-to-achieve-sdgs
James Cleverly seems to have forgotten that money does not grow on trees!
Any money spent on Sustainability Development Goals, whether public or private, is money that cannot be invested in other, probably more worthwhile projects.
And heaven knows how many of these billions will be wasted or misappropriated.
via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
September 24, 2023 at 03:54AM
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