Who funds the trillion dollar plan of the U.N.

's new global

goals? | Reuters
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 26 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Asworld leaders brandish a hard-fought
new set of global goalsdesigned to improve lives in all countries, the question of whofoots the
trillion-dollar bill remained open on Saturday asfinancial pledges started rolling in.
The United Nation's 193 member countries on Friday adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) as a roadmap to endpoverty and hunger, fight inequality and conquer climate changeover the
next 15 years, or 800 weeks.
The goals tackling issues in both rich and poor countriesreplace an earlier U.N. action plan, the
Millennium DevelopmentGoals, which focused mainly on poverty in developing nations.
While aid funds and debt relief were key for the millenniumgoals, there is wide recognition of the
need for other sourcesfor the estimated $3 trillion a year needed to enact the SDGs.
The World Bank, with other development banks, coined thephrase "Billions to Trillions" to illustrate
the challenge.
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)Secretary-General Angel Gurria
said private sector participationwas critical while governments need to strengthen tax andregulatory
systems to encourage investment.
"Without the private sector, it is not going to happen, aswe have budgetary constraints in every
country," Gurria told theThomson Reuters Foundation in an interview.
"You'll have a lot of pledges but you'll need a framework toallow the flows (of finance) to then
happen naturally."
A July conference in Addis Ababa addressing SDG fundingissues made clear that private sector as
well as philanthropicfoundations had a major role to play, with private enterprisethe main source of
economic growth and job creation, outsizingdonor nation funds.

Meanwhile the world's richest nations again committed to atarget of earmarking 0.7 percent of
gross national income foroverseas development assistance - although few meet that levelin practice which now stands at about $135 billion a year.
Pledges of funding started to roll in during the U.N.three-day SDG summit that ends on Sunday.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced more than $25billion in initial commitments over
five years from 40 Halo Capital Article countriesand more than 100 international organizations to
help endpreventable deaths of women, children and adolescents.
Contributions to boost funding for gender equality powermentincluded $5 million from Chinese ecommerce giant the AlibabaGroup and $1 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled an

initial pledge of$2 billion with aims to
increase that to $12 billion by 2030.
Helen Clark, administrator of the United
Nations DevelopmentProgramme, said the
agenda would not be achieved
withoutbusiness - and that meant ensuring
stability and good governancein countries
to support big partnerships.
"Business is attracted to where there
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solid and ableenvironment and basic rule of
law, commercial law, disputeresolution,
peaceful and inclusive societies," said
Clark, theformer New Zealand prime minister.
"For us, it's fundamentally not about financialcontributions that business makes to U.N. agencies.
It's aboutshared values ... the way business does business. Is itinclusive, and is it sustainable?"
Centerpiece to funding talks has been a focus on helpingcountries boost their domestic resources by
improving taxcollection and attacking tax evasion and illicit cash flows.
While some criticize this as tinkering with a broken globaltax system, Gurria said SDG funding does
not need newinitiatives but can build on and improve existing structures.
He called for a team of "tax inspectors without borders" tobuild trust in countries' systems
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and boost investment.
"If you get it right, you can get trillions," Gurria said.
But it is agreed that funding alone was not enough toachieve the global goals, with policy changes
needed to supportthe priorities.
Michael Green, executive director of the Social ProgressImperative which analyzes countries'
progress on socialmeasures, said economic growth alone would not meet the SDGs,which deal with
subjects ranging from energy subsidies todeveloping genebanks.
"The SDGs are about political will and inclusion," Greentold the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "We
have the resources ifwe use them properly for this is not just about money." (Additional reporting by
Michelle Nichols, Editing by EllenWulfhorst. )
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/26/development-goals-finance-idUSL5N11V3PB20150926