ALL SDG Goals

The Financing for Sustainable Development Report (FSDR) assesses progress in implementing the commitments and actions in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.

The global economic outlook remains highly fragile and uncertain clouded by the war in Ukraine and continued pandemic risks. Beyond the worsening humanitarian crisis the economic effects from the war in Ukraine are reverberating across the world. In many countries the war has exacerbated supply bottlenecks and further fuelled inflationary pressures leading to rising risks of stagflation. A possible pandemic resurgence also remains a significant threat to the growth outlook of many countries.

As we release this report on financing for sustainable development the world is under enormous and growing stress. And we the international community are failing to respond adequately. The COVID-19 pandemic is still raging now in its third year. The climate crisis continues unabated and largely unaddressed pollution and biodiversity loss continue to threaten the health of the planet and multiple geopolitical conflicts are devastating untold lives.

Halfway into the implementation of the 2030 Agenda the world is at a watershed. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a severe setback to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The military conflict in Ukraine and heightened geopolitical risks are threatening the global recovery and pushing the most vulnerable further behind. The international community must join forces to prevent further suffering and loss. We must work together to mobilize all resources needed to secure a path to recovery and sustainable development for all.

Fiscal constraints in developing countries are driving a widening “pandemic recovery gap” that threatens achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Developed countries have been financing a large-scale response to the COVID-19 pandemic at historically low interest rates. Many developing countries—faced with significantly higher borrowing costs in and intermittent access to international financial markets—have been more hamstrung in their response. This so-called “great finance divide” contributed to developing countries’ diminished ability to finance an appropriate response to a historic shock. If left unaddressed it will further exacerbate the divergence in development prospects and pandemic scarring will fatally undermine achievement of the SDGs.

The 2021 session of the Economic and Social Council was held in New York and Geneva from 23 July 2020 to 22 July 2021.