Sustainable Finance for Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals in West Asia

Abstract

Implementing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) unarguably demands huge financial investments. However, the United Nations has acknowledged the huge financial gap militating against the implementation of the SDGs worldwide, leading experts to question the possibility of complete implementation of the goals by their terminal dateline of 2030. While the bulk of the finance currently outlaid on the SDGs comes from traditional sources including foreign direct investments (FDIs), there is the need to focus more attention on developing and exploiting impact investments that are more suitable for financing development programmes and projects. In this chapter, the SDG implementation profiles of the 12 Arab West Asia countries concerning the five most targeted SDGs were evaluated and sustainable finance issues were discussed. Secondary data were retrieved from World Bank's DataBank. The data were descriptively analyzed. Based on the profiles generated, debt relief is put forward as a possible impact investment mechanism suitable for funding the SDGs. Specifically, this chapter recommends that outright cancellation of debts based on the debt-for-SGD swap could serve as some of the impact investments needed to boost the global drive for a developed, peaceful, and just world.

Citation

Abdulrasool, H.D. and Athab Al-Shimmery, K.R. (2024), "Sustainable Finance for Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals in West Asia", Hunjra, A.I. and Hussainey, K. (Ed.) The Emerald Handbook of Ethical Finance and Corporate Social Responsibility, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 417-447. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80455-406-720241018