Implementing the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development
The Need for Transformational Change

The Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs)• The SDGs takes a holistic, integrated view on development
and poverty reduction.
• The SDGs explicitly recognize that the health of the planet iscritical for the sustainability of long-term economic andsocial development.

Continued environmental degradation is putting
long-term economic and social development at risk:• “Climate change threatens global financial stability andprosperity.” - Mark Carney, Governor, Bank of England• “So we need growth, but we also need green growth that
respects environmental sustainability.” - Christine Lagarde,
IMF Chief• “Harm done to the Planet is harm done to humanity” –Pope Francis

Planetary Boundaries are real

Source: Azote
Images/Stockholm
Resilience CentreGEF and the SDGs

Achieving the Transformation: Focus on Three
Key Systems of the Economy:
 Cities (How we live) Food Production (How we eat) Energy (How we get things done—move,produce, etc.)

Why Cities?
 By 2050, more than 2 billion additional people will beliving in cities, a 50% increase from today.
 equivalent to adding an urban population each month
the size of Washington, DC.
 Cities produce 80% of the world’s gross domesticproduct.
 They consume two thirds of the world’s energy Account for over 70% of global greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions.
Compact, resilient, inclusive and resource-efficient cities can become drivers ofsustainable development and economic growth, contributing to both local
livability and global public goods.

Opportunities for Transforming Cities• Strengthen strategic planning, including for improved land use
and integrated multi-modal transport infrastructure;• Develop a more efficient urban development model, which iscompact, with high quality public transport systems;• Provide greater fiscal autonomy and support cities withinnovative financing options.

GEF’s Work on Sustainable Cities• GEF has launched a Sustainable Cities initiative to promotesustainable urban development• It involves 11 major cities across the world; GEF is providing$152 million (for pilot phase), which has attracted $1.5
billion in co-financing; building a global knowledge platform• GEF is supporting BRT systems in several major cities to improve
the transportation system, air quality and public safety• GEF provided $7.35 million which has leveraged anadditional $260 million from the Government and the InterAmerican Development Bank

Why Food Production?
 Global food production must increase by 70% by 2050 tofeed a rapidly growing—and more affluent—population.
 Agriculture accounts for approximately 24% of global
greenhouse gas emissions.
 Agriculture accounts for 70 % of all freshwater withdrawals(note that 280 watersheds are shared among two or morecountries, making multi-country cooperation essential..) Three global commodities (palm, soy and beef) areresponsible for 80% of all tropical deforestation.

Opportunities for Transforming
Land Use and Food Systems• Greater investment in agricultural research to increase
productivity and resilience;• Reduction of input subsidies, mainly for fertilizer, water andbiofuels that involve food crops;• Restoration of degraded landscapes and promotion ofsustainable land management practices;• Reduce post-harvest losses and waste;• Improve farm-to-market transportation infrastructure.

GEF’s Work on Land Use and Food Security Systems• Two recent flagship programs:• Improve food security in Sub-Saharan Africa. Covering
12 countries; GEF has been able to mobilize $900
million from a variety of sources to support thisinitiative• Taking deforestion out of global commodity supplychains; a supply-chain approach to palm, soy andbeef

Opportunities for Transforming
Energy Systems••••

Put a price on carbon; phase out of fossil fuel subsidies;
Improve energy efficiency in buildings, appliances, etc.;
Increase investment in low-carbon energy infrastructure;
Develop investment vehicles to finance low-carbon
infrastructure;• Develop and deploy low carbon technological innovations.

GEF’s Work on Energy Systems
 GEF is helping develop innovative financial instruments to promoteenergy efficiency and renewable energy• Interventions that reduce perceived (or real) project risks:• Africa Renewable Energy Fund: $25 million from GEF leveraged$500 million from the AfDB, Denmark and the private sector(including the Danish pension fund)• Interventions that help aggregation:• GEF/World Bank have launched the International Lighting
Efficiency Facility (iLEF) to support a new financing facility forenergy efficient lighting and equipment for cities. The $12
million from the GEF is expected to leverage $50 million fromthe private sector.

GEF’s Work on Energy Systems (continued)• Interventions that build local capacity:• GEF/IFC launched the China Utility-Based Energy Efficiency
Finance Program (CHUEE) in 2006: CHUEE has enabledbanks, utility companies, government agencies, andsuppliers of energy efficiency equipment and services tocollaborate in creating a sustainable financing model todevelop energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.

Financing the Transition: Public Policy and Grant
Funding Must Catalyze Reallocation of capital

Source: The New Climate
Economy Synthesis ReportCatalyzing, Mobilizing and Crowding in DomesticFinancing• Create the enabling environment for domestic public andprivate resource mobilization• Develop fair, efficient and transparent tax systems;• Strengthen financial governance and public financialmanagement;• Internalize externalities and mainstream environmental
sustainability;• Develop financial markets for long-term investment.

Catalyzing, Mobilizing and Crowding inInternational Financing• Mobilize international public financial resources• Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) – concessionaland non-concessional• From the MDBs, special funds like the GEF, bilateralsources, etc.
• Create the enabling environment to mobilize international
private financing• Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)• Portfolio flows• Private sector loans (e.g. for public-private partnerships)• Remittances (e.g. diaspora bonds)

Conclusion: Achieving the SDGs will
require..
• major transformation in our key economic systems;• large-scale redirection of global investment flows, fromboth public, private and international sources;• “smart” ODA that catalyzes transformational change• … and, perhaps most importantly, the broadest possible
coalition of the willing; new multistakeholder
approaches, bringing communities, corporations andcountries together.

Thank you