Investment needs to achieve SDGs: An overview

Abstract

Estimating the investments needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is key to mobilising the financial resources to achieve them. Despite an increasing body of research to estimate the capital and operational costs towards achieving various related SDG targets individually and collectively, an overview of the total estimated investment needs at the global scale has not been conducted since the adoption of SDGs in 2015. This study provides such an overview. Estimates for investment needs are found for nine goals: SDG 2 (zero hunger), SDG 3 (good health and well-being), SDG 4 (quality education), SGD 6 (clean water and sanitation), SDG7 (access to energy), SDG 9 (infrastructure), SDG 13 (climate action), SDG 14 (life below water), and SDG 15 (life on land). The reviewed studies vary significantly in terms of applied methodology, the assumed targets that need to be achieved, and presented estimates, but overall they indicate significantly higher investment needs to achieve all covered SDGs than previous estimates suggest. For most SDGs, annual investment needs are in the order of hundreds of billion USD annually, and for SDG6 and SDG13 estimates of a trillion or more are reported.