Responsible Consumption and Production

Fears related to economic insecurity are on the rise. Changes in the world of work, together with globalization and technological breakthroughs, have benefited many people but are also putting many others at disadvantage or at risk. These long-standing trends, which have raised aspirations but also fears, are compounded by evolving threats, including those brought about by climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The decisions taken by institutional investors, commercial banks, capital market actors and corporations have a strong impact on the magnitude and quality of private investment available for the SDGs. To scale up available private finance and investment for sustainable development, it is necessary to address the incentives of the above actors through a combination of regulatory and institution/industry-specific measures. Further action is needed to better channel investment to countries and SDG-related sectors that are most in need. The development of innovative and scalable global platforms, instruments and funds would be an important first step in this regard. Additionally, to enhance the impact of given investment on sustainable development, and to avoid green or SDG-washing, it is necessary to advance industry-based standards for impact measurement and support the development and implementation of a clear set of SDG related metrics that can be integrated into existing reporting frameworks.

The first months of 2022 witnessed an accelerated spike in the international prices of food and energy as a result of the ripple effects of the war in Ukraine. In the following months, from May to September 2022, food prices dropped while natural gas and coal prices continued to surge. At present, low- and middle-income countries are primarily facing a food crisis, whereas high-income countries are predominantly challenged by an energy crisis. Policy responses have also diverged: Subsidies account for about 40 percent of responses, while cash and in-kind transfers accrue 39 percent. There are vast inequalities and inefficiencies at play: Some 53 percent of transfers and subsidies are spent in high-income countries, whereas low-income countries account for only 1 percent of the policy response. On average, for every US$1,000 spent per month, a universal subsidy would prevent one person from falling into poverty, but this number increases to 2.7 if the same amount is spent on a targeted cash transfer scheme. The cost-of-living crisis has not ended—in fact, it is further exacerbating other crises.

Governments that consider risk in policymaking and successfully integrate risk management into their governance frameworks and development have a better record of DRR and resilience building. Climate change is already changing the frequency and intensity of natural hazards, as well as increasing the vulnerabilities of countries in special situations including Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Ensuring risk-informed governance for climate action requires citizen-centric approach through the whole-of-society and whole-of-government approaches including the leverage of government innovation and frontier technologies for DRR and resilience. Emerging trends globally show that there is a stark upsurge in the number of disasters in this century compared to the previous one. Over the past two decades, climate-related disasters have nearly doubled compared to the preceding twenty years, affecting more than 4 billion people.

The COVID-19 crisis has resulted in significant output contractions, deteriorating social conditions and worsened debt sustainability. Some countries that had previously attained higher income status and deemed no longer to need grants and concessional finance in the form of Official Development Assistance (ODA) are once again in need of heightened international support. This includes countries that slid back to a lower income category as well as higher income vulnerable countries, such as numerous small island developing States (SIDS), who have found it difficult to respond and recover from the pandemic without support. Access to ODA, including through concessional finance windows at multilateral development banks (MDBs), is generally linked to gross national income (GNI) per capita. As developing countries attain higher income per capita status, access to grants and concessional windows declines. As a result, countries’ average cost of borrowing generally becomes more expensive, with shorter maturities, which can widen financing gaps in normal times. In times of crises, these gaps are magnified, underscoring countries’ need for support. Recognition that the need for support is often linked to factors that are not measured by income has led to MDBs, in particular, to include important exceptions in eligibility criteria, including incorporating vulnerability. However, it has often been ad hoc and not based on a full analysis of risk factors. This policy brief outlines the criteria to access ODA, why it needs to improve and suggests a way forward.

Understanding how population trends are likely to unfold in the short, medium and long terms is critical for achieving a more inclusive, prosperous and sustainable future as recognized in the Declaration on Future Generations. This policy brief provides an overview of some of the main findings of the recently released report, World Population Prospects 2024: Summary of Results (United Nations, 2024a) with the aim of helping countries prepare for population sizes, age structures and spatial distributions that may differ appreciably from those of their recent past.