Posted by Hind Mukhtar
Thursday, May 18, 2023 10:36 AM
Within the framework of the Council of Ministers’ Information and Decision Support Center’s interest in monitoring and analyzing everything related to international reports that deal with Egyptian affairs or fall within its scope of interests, the center highlighted a report issued by the United Nations entitled “Financing Sustainable Development for 2023: Financing Sustainable Transformation,” During which the United Nations explained that the growing crises – including food and energy, the lack of clarity in expectations regarding global economic conditions and the escalation of the effects of climate change – all emphasized the need for a sustainable industrial transformation to bridge the widening development gap between countries, promote climate action and achieve sustainable development goals, as he stresses The need for huge and urgent investments to accelerate this transformation, including in the fields of electricity, industry, agriculture, transportation and buildings.
The report indicated that some necessary changes are already taking place. For example, the energy crisis resulting from the Russian-Ukrainian crisis stimulated investment in the transformation of the global energy sector, to rise dramatically in 2022 to a record amount of $1.1 trillion.
The report stressed that for the first time, energy transfer investments exceeded what was invested in fossil fuels in 2022, but almost all of these investments were in China and developed countries, as most developing countries do not have the necessary resources to invest, unlike developed countries, and there is a huge discrepancy between countries. Developing countries have faced huge financial pressures due to climate change, the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, the “Covid-19” pandemic, and debt payments that have reached twice what they were in 2019, which limits the ability of developing countries to invest in sustainable transformation.
Likewise, average spending on post-pandemic recovery in developed countries amounted to $12,200 per person in 2020 and 2021, 30 times more than what was spent in developing countries, which amounted to $410, and 610 times more than what was spent in less developed countries, which amounted to $20 per person.
The report referred to a new green industrial era, as industrialization was – historically – a means of progress, which led to economic growth, job creation, technological progress and poverty reduction. The report stated that manufacturing capacity, despite the rapid spread of technology, is still uneven in the least developed countries in the world. Africa, where the added value of manufacturing industries declined instead of doubling in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals.
The report called for the development of a new generation of sustainable industrial policies supported by integrated national planning to expand the scope of investments and lay the basis for the required transformations. Low-carbon transition, decent jobs and economic growth while ensuring gender equality.
To provide the necessary resources for this transformation, the report called for strengthening tax systems, enabling and stimulating private investment, and expanding the scope of international public investment and development cooperation. He also stressed that mobilizing adequate resources requires bringing about changes in the structure of the global financial system.
While international organizations are working to adapt to the rapidly evolving needs of countries, the report warns that sustainable development cannot be achieved if reform is fragmented or incomplete, or if it does not take sustainable development goals into account. The report also stresses the need to find the necessary political will to overcome tensions. The growing political and cleavage of alliances between countries and the disturbing trends associated with nationalism, and taking advantage of the opportunity to invest urgently in the common future.
