Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 20th Sept. UN Conference on Trade and Development economists on Tuesday said that the cost to achieve ambitious sustainable development targets is estimated at between $5.4 and $6.4 billion per year between now and 2030.
According to the UNCTAD this represents between $1,179 and $1,383 per person, per year.
It said that for the world’s 48 developing economies, the cost is estimated at $337 billion annually, if they take the required action on climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
UNCTAD stated that this kind of investment will likely be extremely difficult for countries with limited resources, the solution lies in allocating funds in cross-cutting areas, such as education, which advances gender equality, poverty reduction and innovation, all SDGs targets.
Anu Peltola head of UNCTAD Statistics said “Merely increasing funds won’t guarantee success. Governments, companies, investors and institutions need to strategically allocate their resources.”
“They don’t have to stretch every dollar to cover every goal.”
Analysis by UNCTAD indicated that the world’s wealthiest economies are expected to account for nearly 80 per cent of SDG expenditure between now and 2030.
These countries generally face the highest annual per capita costs and the largest financing gaps.
Small Island developing States face high costs, with required spending on gender equality estimated at $3,724 per person, almost three times the average global requirement.
The least developed countries face much lower costs per head, the required spending as a percentage of each nation’s overall economic output is significant, reaching 47 per cent for education alone.
UNCTAD analysis revealed major shortfalls in national spending trends towards sustainability.
The biggest gap is in inclusive digitization, at $468 billion a year. Closing this gap would require a 9 per cent increase in annual spending, UNCTAD stated.
It noted that improving social protection and decent job opportunities require less investment for the world’s 48 developing economies, at $294 billion, which would require a six per cent increase in annual spending.
The analysis focused on six paths for transformation through sustainable development: social protection and decent jobs, transforming education, food systems, climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, energy transition and inclusive digitization.
It covered indicators from reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing protected forest cover to guarantee universal access to electricity and the internet, promoting literacy, fighting hunger and reducing mortality.
UNCTAD’s report highlighted the need to tackle the global debt crisis.
It added that 3.3 billion people live in countries that spend more on debt interest payments than on essential public services such as education and health.
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