May 2019: The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has developed an online platform to promote and facilitate investment for the SDGs. The SustainableFDI.org platform brings together an array of resources on sustainable foreign direct investment (FDI), presents investment opportunities, and gives investment promotion agencies “a platform to network.”

The platform outlines past and upcoming events related to SDG investment and FDI, and includes a ‘Newsflash’ section that comprises a series of monthly news on FDI trends, promotion strategies, best practices, events and publications. It also includes a resource center that provides access to publications and tools related to investment for sustainable development. Via the resource center, resources related to each of the 17 SDGs can be selected.

Through the Global IPA Network section, SustainableFDI.org helps users visualize investment promotion agencies (IPAs) that are promoting sustainable FDI and connect with members of UNCTAD’s sustainable FDI global network. The platform further includes a section on ‘Sustainable FDI opportunities’ where registered users can post opportunities for sustainable FDI.

Among other resources, the platform includes:

• A guide titled, ‘Promoting Investment in the Sustainable Development Goals,’ which provides an eight-step process and a project profile template to assist investment promotion agencies in understanding, comparing, aggregating and analyzing SDG projects;
• An overview of the Regional Seminar on Facilitating Investment in SDG Projects that was convened by UNCTAD and the East African Community from 10-12 April 2019; and
• An announcement of the launch of the 2019 World Investment Report on 12 June 2019, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

The annual report provides the latest data and projections on the state of global FDI. [SustainableFDI.org platform]