The way to the future, together!

Authored by: Aniket Biswas Burman BJ20007, Anugrah Agnihotri BJ20009, Nandana Varshney BJ20030, Nandu Krishnan A BJ20031, Praveen Kumar BJ20037, Rudrani Bose BJ20043

Sustainable Development Goal: 17- Partnership for Goals

Leadership by individual nations and corporations in sustainability is laudable, but to drive transformational changes, companies and countries worldwide need to collaborate on a deeper level. In this blog, we discuss SDG-17: “Partnership for Goals,” which explicitly highlights that sustainable goals can only be achieved by forming meaningful relationships at a local, regional, national, and global level.[1] In a nutshell, the objective of this goal states that developed, developing, and underdeveloped countries and all the stakeholders in these economies must capitalize on the benefits of inclusive partnerships to mitigate the short-term and long-term issues. Sector-specific alliances and initiatives have been promising so far. Global Alliances for Increased Nutrition (GAIN) [2], SUN network [3], AGRA, etc., are working towards improving the ecosystem of food and agriculture. Networks such as Global Health Workforce [4], Global Fund, scaling up Nutrition networks, etc., and initiatives like “Every Woman Every Child,” “Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases” [5] are reducing the disease burden of patients and giving them quality health diagnosis. Sustainable finance is rapidly gaining traction after the formulation of ESG frameworks and alliances and initiatives like CGAP, WWB [6], Sustainable Stock Exchange (SSE) [7], etc., are accelerating the progress. India is also not left behind and has top-class institutions like Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS and its New Development Bank, SAARC, UN-REDD, and other UN agencies and programs worldwide and can play a pivotal role in achieving the SDGs globally through partnerships. Partnerships have become of utmost importance during these COVID times as it has crippled the economies. The Overseas Development Aid (ODA) is projected to fall by more than 20% in 2020, whereas FDI will be down by 40%, affecting the developing and underdeveloped countries adversely. [8] In these trying times, countries worldwide need to adopt a more humanitarian lens to tread the path of inclusive, sustainable growth.

The Relevance to India

Global partnerships are essential. Exactly how important can be judged from India’s impact on three partnerships that failed to materialize. With the US pulling out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, it affected India’s development of the Chabahar port, the gateway to energy trade from Central Asia, to which $85 million had already been spent, affected emerging transport connectivity through the INSTC and damaged relations with Tehran. It took presidential elections in the US to reopen Chabahar again. One of the targets of Goal 17 is science. Access to the Nuclear Suppliers Group would enhance access to nuclear technology and allow India to manufacture nuclear technology under the Make in India program, improving economic development. China’s opposition shows how a chasm in global and diplomatic partnerships is detrimental. Global partnerships are rarely genuinely global. They exist in little pockets. For example, India-Africa partnerships are much lower in degree than what one would expect. For counties that became independent in the 1950s, it is only now that Africa is being called “the next growth frontier.” For example, India’s foray into solar energy through the International Solar Alliance can be vital to Africa, where energy poverty costs 2-4% of the GDP every year. The India and Africa Partnership for Sustainability held in 2019 can be a milestone in developing countries partnering to achieve the SDGs.

The economic and diplomatic importance of partnerships in achieving sustainability can perhaps best be explained by what is still now unfamiliar territory. India’s Deep Ocean Mission plans to invest in deep-sea mining. Yet these precious deep ocean minerals, which can be the future of renewable energy, have already become the zone of conflict, with over 15 countries racing to be the first to mine the seabed. The world requires greater cooperation to fully realize the scientific benefits, but the environmental impacts of mining can be mitigated only when all stakeholders cooperate.

B.R. Ambedkar once called article 32 the “heart and soul” of the constitution. It ensures the other fundamental rights exist. SDG 17 is the “heart and soul” of the goals, without which no amount of individual effort can triumph.

Why is SDG 17 the most important one?

When you read the newspapers or trending media, you will mainly find buzz words like hunger, poverty, education for all, etc. The other 16 goals are still a challenge, but the SDG 17 remains the Achilles Heel for most countries.

The collaboration target set for various SDGs by 2030 is very crucial to achieve a wholesome result. Missing out on any one thing will be a detrimental scenario for the world. And the only way to achieve it to the fullest is by global sharing of expertise, technology, knowledge, and resources of all kinds.

According to a BSDC (Business and Sustainable Commission) report, there can be close to 400 million new job creation if all the SDGs are aligned and global partnership thrives.

There are various ways in which this collaboration is achieved:

1. Finance: Debt sustainability is the primary concern for developing countries, and the same debt burden is either reduced or shared for countries working progressively towards the SDGs. One of the ways is of “Debt-service” as a fraction of exports for developing countries.

2. Technology: Research and development findings are shared with financially poorer countries to make use of innovation to reduce their cost and harmful impact on the world. For instance, Microsoft produces environmental-friendly devices and promotes them, specifically in developing countries.

3. Trade: Pushing developing countries to increase their share of exports and to double it by 2030. The ratio of exports gives multifold opportunities to developing countries and strengthens their ability to act on the SDGs.

4. Infrastructure: Helping developing nations to enhance their capacity and infrastructure to achieve the SDGs. Providing them with technical and financial assistance goes a long way.

Doing Good is Good Business

The business case to harness the SDGs revolves around the following four themes: resource scarcity, weak financial markets, uneven purchasing power parity, and limited qualified talent pool.

Driving Growth: Business models close to SDGs can potentially open economic opportunities worth nearly 12 trillion USD, giving employment to almost 380 million people by 2030 [9].

Address Risk: Alignment to SDGs communicates strong ESG risk management and builds competitive advantage while assisting communities in achieving the SDGs further also creates opportunities for investors to manage their risks and develop their portfolios.

Attract Capital: Recently, innovative private-sector financial products like green bonds were launched. World Bank has committed 23.5 billion USD to help developing countries develop projects to SDG-aligned challenges. Parallelly 163 million Euro worth of equity-index linked sustainability bonds were released by European institutional investors for financing projects mentioned above [9]. The bonds’ ROI directly relates to companies’ stock performance in the Solactive Sustainable Development Goals World Index, demonstrating SDG business alignment getting new capital benefit sources.

Focusing Purpose: This focus on SDGs can catalyze innovation, motivate and engage employees and open new markets.

Figure 1: How Businesses can go sustainable over-time

Multi-national corporations have taken a head-start to match the pace at which the world is growing. With rising pressure to cope with the rapid change, good business partnerships are quintessential. Cross transfer of sustainable practices and technologies can help companies achieve sustainable goals efficiently. Let us have a look at some examples:

Indian Tobacco Company (ITC) is a company that has championed sustainable efforts in the country for the past ten years. More than 40% of its electrical energy needs are met through renewable sources like wind, solar, and biomass. Going further, as part of its Sustainability 2.0 Vision- ITC plans to invest over Rs 100 Cr to meet all its electricity needs through renewable sources by 2030. Setting a unique example- the company has also partnered with over 26 states and 166 districts through the PPP model (Public-Private Partnerships) for its Social Investment Program [10].

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) indulges in several international government collaborations for promoting sustainable practices. In Rwanda, along with the government, the company developed an Investment Accelerator that can improve job opportunities in the country by attracting private investments. It has partnered with Teach for All a non-profit organization that recruits young graduates to provide education in rural areas in the world. In India, they have partnered with NGOs like Akshaya Patra for the fight against malnutrition. In 2019 BCG worked with multiple clients to deliver over 700 social impact projects [11]. BCG also partnered with World Economic Forum (WEF) to release The Net Zero Challenge: Fast-Forward to Decisive Climate Action study via which they assessed the progress by corporations, governments, and civil society since the 2015 Paris Accord [12].

Figure 2: TSI- A new lens for strategy developed by BCG

Technological giant Amazon leads by example, as they are the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy. They partnered with 35 renewable projects that produced nearly 4 GW output in 2020 for the same. In 2019, Amazon co-founded the Climate Pledge, aiming to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, 10 years earlier than proposed by the Paris agreement [13]. The pledge already has 31 signatories, including global giants like Microsoft, Unilever, Verizon, Siemens, etc. They have made extensive investments in electric vehicles on the business operations front and switched to sustainable operations.

Bajaj FinServ has partnered with several NGOs in India and has a three-pronged approach to achieving sustainability goals- action, partnership, and change. They work along with the Rainbow foundation to support needy children’s long-term development and provide 11 million of them career goals and support.

A lead Chinese heavy machine producer Sany Industries has partnered with Earth Capital to promote green technology in operations in China. While focusing on developing equipment using clean and emission less energy, they also give impetus to developing financial tools and cooperation models for adaptive Research and Development [14].

Undoubtedly, businesses should join hands with the public sector, private sector, and NGOs to achieve the desired results and reach unique innovation, optimization, and growth capabilities.

The way forward

It is beyond doubt that the cross-pollination of ideas and resources between countries is the way forward. Only by fostering deep ties with all stakeholders (both domestic and international) can we solve some of the biggest problems (climate change, terrorism, nuclear disarmament, etc.) plaguing our world. With the rise of ultranationalists and neo-fascists across the globe, international cooperation has faced a huge setback. We must contend with the likes of Trump (though, not for too long), Modi, Bolsonaro and Erdoğan. The situation has been further exacerbated by the global pandemic where nations shut down their doors and spewed Sinophobia. In these troubling times, we can turn to ancient wisdom to give us a future direction. वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम (Vasudhaiva kutumbakam) or the philosophy that the world is but one family, needs to be practiced by all in these testing times. Extending this metaphor of family members further, it is important to not treat global cooperation as a mere quid pro quo agreement between the powerful and genuine concern for each other.

References

[1], [8] https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal17

[2] https://www.gainhealth.org/impact

[3] https://scalingupnutrition.org/

[4] https://www.who.int/workforcealliance/en/

[5] https://unitingtocombatntds.org/

[6] https://www.womensworldbanking.org/insights-and-impact/

[7] https://sseinitiative.org/

[8]https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/why-is-india-pulled-to-deep-sea-mining/article28809029.ece

[9] https://www.ey.com/en_gl/assurance/why-sustainable-development-goals-should-be-in-your-business-plan

[10] https://www.itcportal.com/sustainability/index.aspx

[11] https://www.17sustainabledevelopmentgoals.org/bcg-partnering-for-the-goals/