Massive investment and financial reform needed to rescue SDGs – Saudi Gazette

Massive investment and financial reform needed to rescue SDGs – Saudi Gazette

NEW YORK — Financing for sustainable development is at a crossroads and without urgent investment, global efforts to achieve a more just and equitable world by 2030 will fail, the UN deputy chief warned on Tuesday.Presenting the latest UN report on the issue, Amina Mohammed called for “a surge in investment” and reform of the international financial system to rescue the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are woefully off track.World leaders adopted the 17 SDGs nearly a decade ago and they include ending extreme poverty and hunger, ensuring availability to clean water and sanitation, and reducing inequality within and among countries.“At our current rates, we estimate some 600 million people will still be living in extreme poverty beyond 2030. And as the report shows, finance is the crux of the problem,” Mohammed said, speaking at UN Headquarters in New York.The 2024 Financing for Sustainable Development Report says urgent steps are needed to mobilize financing at scale to close the development financing gap, now estimated at $4.2 trillion annually, up from $2.5 trillion before the COVID-19 pandemic.Meanwhile, rising geopolitical tensions, climate disasters and a global cost-of-living crisis have hit billions of people, battering progress on healthcare, education, and other development targets.Staggering