Reception and dinner of the ‘Global Investors for Sustainable Development’ Alliance

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has set an ambitious roadmap in the domain of the three "Ps": people, planet and prosperity. During this year's stocktaking exercise at the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development under the auspices of the General Assembly it became evident that Official Development Assistance (ODA) and even domestic resource mobilization tapping into the developing countries own resources through taxes will not be sufficient to meet the targets by 2030. The needs are particularly high in the field of infrastructure, health and education.  According to recent calculations the annual funding gap climbed up to US$2.6 trillion, which is 3.0% of global GDP. Against this background, private finance and investment are of central importance for the implementation of the 17 goals.

To access the resources, expertise and leadership of the private sector and to initiate a dialogue, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) developed the concept of a global investors alliance. The idea was inspired by a similar platform called Swedish Investors for Sustainable Development managed by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). Similar to its Swedish counterpart, the newly formed Global Investors for Sustainable Development (GISD) Alliance is a partnership aimed at promoting engagement in corporate governance around the SDGs and serves as platform for learning, sharing experiences and founding voluntary projects. The GISD Alliance will constitute of 30 members, mostly institutional investors, and is co-chaired by Oliver Bäte, CEO of Allianz Group, and Leila Fourie, CEO of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. It also includes the heads of Bank of America, Citigroup, Santander and UBS among others. GISD Alliance firms combine 15 trillion US$ in assets under management.

For KAS the private sector is a key partner in development and financial instruments in development cooperation have to be geared up in order to provide for the necessary space for private sector engagement. All over the world, investment companies are increasingly compelled to look beyond shareholder values. Client interests as well as corporate values direct investors more and more towards sustainable investments. The challenge lies not only in identifying the right projects for investment but to find the right and conducive policy frameworks. In the spirit of providing a platform for exchange between different stakeholders and sectors, KAS New York hosted during the UN General Assembly together with the investor Nuveen and the United Nations a reception and dinner.  Welcoming remarks and a key notes were given by Andrea Ostheimer, Executive Director of KAS New York, Vijay Advani, CEO of Nuveen, Carin Jämtin, Director-General of SIDA and Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, who stressed the importance of partnerships in the achievement of the Global Goals.