At the end of its fifth and final session, 4-8 August 2014, the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing (ICESDF) finalized and adopted its draft report, which has been forwarded to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) for consideration.
The Committee used the Monterrey Consensus of the International Conference on Financing for Development as a basis for its analysis, taking into account the work of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (OWG), and the Outcome document of the UN General Assembly Special Event in September 2013, that resolved that the post-2015 development agenda should reinforce the international community’s commitment to poverty eradication and sustainable development and the need for a coherent approach that integrates the three dimensions – economic, environmental and social.
Having assessed sustainable development financing needs, current financial flows and potential sources of financing, it was clear that current financing and investment pattern would not deliver sustainable development. The solution, according to the ICESDF will include better aligning incentives with public goals and creating a policy framework hat encourages for-profit investment, while mobilizing public resources for essential sustainable development activities. There is, moreover, no one simple policy solution. Instead a basket of policy measures will be necessary encompassing a toolkit of policy options, regulation, institutions, programmes and instruments. They recommend “a cohesive approach, with national financing strategies as an integral part of national sustainable development strategies.”
Among the issues the ICESDF considered are domestic public, domestic private, international public and international private finance. They addressed a wide range of areas including the financial needs for the provision of global public goods for the “climate-compatible” and “sustainable development” scenario; global savings; external debt and debt distress; the banking sector; international trade; small and medium-sized enterprises; migrant remittances; good financial governance; policy and regulatory regimes; tax systems and rules; sovereign debt crisis prevention and resolution; and fighting illicit financial flows, tax evasion, money laundering and the need to combat corruption. The global sector funds with multi-stakeholder partnerships bringing together governments, private sector, civil society as well as traditional and emerging donors such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the GAVI Alliance and the Global Partnership for Education were also discussed.
The financing needs for poverty eradication and sustainable development remain significant, including the basic needs related to the eradication of poverty and hunger, the improvement of health and education, and provision of access to affordable energy and promotion of gender equality. According to the ICESDF there will need to be large investment requirements to address hunger, and health and education needs.
The ICESDF recommends effective cooperation for sustainable development, including its financial aspects. This “requires a global partnership with the meaningful involvement and active participation of developing and developed countries, multilateral and bilateral development and financial institutions, parliaments, local authorities, private sector entities, philanthropic foundations, civil society organizations and other stakeholders.” The process for boosting the impact and effectiveness of development cooperation should be continued and enhanced. In conclusion the members of the ICESDF trust that their work will provide a basis for future discussions on financing sustainable development and will inform, together with the Open Working Group report, the intergovernmental negotiations for the post-2015 development agenda. They note that the third International Conference on Financing for Development, to be held in 2015, and its preparatory process will bring together all stakeholders and advance discussions.
The final draft of the report of the International Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing (ICESDF) is available for download.