How can we achieve sustainable development?

The question of how the world can end extreme poverty and improve human well-being will take on new urgency in 2022.

The United Nations Secretary-General’s “Synthesis Report” provides solid guidance on what sustainable development should look like and what world leaders must do in the next 15 years to achieve it. After two years of elaborating on the “what” of sustainable development, the next year must focus on how to achieve it.

The central ambition is bold: the eradication of poverty extreme by 2030. For that to happen, the SDGs will need to move away from the 20th century development model, in which rich countries gave money to poor countries, mainly to feed the hungry and improve health and education.

How to achieve sustainable development

Three ingredients will be essential to achieve the goals: financing mechanisms, trade and partnerships. Forty years after rich countries pledged to spend 0.7% of GDP on aid, their commitments remain at less than half that level.

Cómo podemos lograr el desarrollo sostenible

 

Although most emerging economies are no longer dependent on aid, it remains vitally important to low-income countries. That said, even if aid targets are met, the shift to sustainable development will cost far more than aid alone can cover. We need to look for new sources of funds, make sure that government spending is aligned with the sustainable development agenda, and target those areas where the money can do the most good, such as the development sustainable social development of RENACE.

Invest in sustainable development

In much of the developing world, investing in sustainable development is complicated by the fact that tax revenues are too low to pay for what is needed. It’s not always about raising tax rates; it’s also often about collecting what people and businesses owe. Closing loopholes and cracking down on evasion are two ways to ensure taxes are collected.

The OECD estimates that an aid dollar spent on improving tax collection produces an average of $350 in revenue. A shared commitment based on G8 initiatives would make tax evasion based on tax havens or money laundering more difficult to conceal.

Making development sustainable will also require accelerated innovation and technology diffusion between now and 2030. A global partnership could stimulate investment in research and development and facilitate the flow of information between scientists, businessmen and legislators.

These new and creative partnerships can make progress on complex problems that governments, civil society or the private sector cannot or will not solve alone.