The SDGs are seriously off track. Poor and vulnerable countries suffer the most. At the core, the SDGs
are an investment agenda. Yet, the global financial
architecture is failing to channel global savings to
SDG investments at the needed pace and scale.
There is deep, chronic, and crippling under-investment in a significant proportion of developing countries. This paper underlines four priorities to scaleup and align global financing flows for the SDGs: (i)
Reform of the Global Financial Architecture, notably
by expanding funding from Multilateral Development
Banks and Public Development Banks; (ii) More and
better targeted Official Development Assistance ; (iii)
Revised sovereign credit ratings that consider the
long-term growth potential of SDG investments and
(iv) Long-term investment planning, fiscal frameworks, project implementation, financial operations,
and relations with partner institutions in developing
countries, in order to be able to channel much larger
funds into long-term sustainable development. The
paper argues that sustainable development is a
high-return activity, and that the SDG financing gap
is largely the result of missed investment opportunities caused by an inappropriate financing framework. This paper aims to support global efforts to
scale-up and align international financing flows to
achieve the SDGs, in conjunction with the Summit
for a Global Financing Pact in Paris in June 2023.