Building the SDG economy – Needs, spending, and financing for universal achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals

Who’s behind it? – Brookings 

How can it help? – The report “Building the SDG economy: Needs, spending, and financing for universal achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals” details what it will take to build a new global economy that is consistent with the SDGs, including the imperative to address climate change. Among other recommendations, it calls for reviewing international public finance volumes and allocations through an “SDG needs lens”, and for incorporating SDG spending into government financial accounting and reporting, and adopting SDG-consistent integrated national financing frameworks to provide a sound analytical basis for guiding effective SDG public spending.  

The authors stress the need to think beyond financing aggregates to a more granular description of specific types of resource gaps in specific countries. “Zoom out” on the big picture issues in order to encourage “zooming in” on the practical ones.The “SDG economy” is seen as one where the aspirations of two foundational agreements on sustainable development are met. 

The report also calls for a new social compact to end poverty in all its forms everywhere and urge governments to fulfill nationally appropriate spending targets.