23 October 2017: The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI) have launched a report on innovative financial models that can help meet financing needs for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the region. The report proposes a range of approaches including impact investing, green public procurement, social enterprises and private-sector investment models that nudge private money toward sustainable development.

The report aims to stimulate action to develop ‘innovative financing solutions’ to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Shamshad Akhtar, UN ESCAP Executive Secretary, said the report aims to stimulate action to develop ‘innovative financing solutions’ that are urgently needed to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Jong Guk Song, STEPI President, noted that public policy can create ‘a favorable ecosystem’ in which private capital pays more attention to the SDGs. The UN estimates that achieving the SDGs will require additional US$2.5 trillion.

The report features several case studies of innovative financing approaches in the Asia-Pacific region, including studies of the India Impact Investment Council, the Thai Social Investment Taskforce, India’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Law, and Singapore’s Women’s Livelihood Bond.

The report offers six general recommendations:

• leverage national and transboundary knowledge networks to involve a wide range of actors, including civil society;
• develop an impact investing road map;
• promote problem-solving approaches to public funding for innovation, including through cross-ministry collaboration and communication between the scientific and civil society communities;
• review and adopt a regulatory framework that supports innovative financing for the SDGs, for example, through a CSR Law or policies that support social enterprises;
• align innovative financing with broad development strategies; and
• adopt an interative cycle of experimentation and evaluation to ascertain ‘what works’.

The report also proposes recommendations for ESCAP, including providing a platform for intergovernmental debate and knowledge sharing, through its Committee on Information and Communications Technology and STI, and its Committee on Macroeconomic Policy, Poverty Reduction and Financing for Development. Other recommendations are to: facilitate collaboration between Member States and networks focused on social impact investment; provide strategic and technical advice to help countries develop their impact investing strategic road maps; and provide strategic and technical support to develop broad innovation policies and strategies linked to national development plans.

STEPI is a think-tank based in the Republic of Korea. [ESCAP Press Release] [Report Webpage] [Publication: Innovative Financing for Development in Asia and the Pacific] [STEPI Website]