Jakarta (ANTARA) – The United Nations Development Program has expressed the hope that Indonesia’s G20 Presidency will focus on climate change financing, especially from private capital.
“I expect that also during the G20 Presidency of Indonesia, this topic will gain focus,” UNDP administrator Achim Steiner noted during the 2020 Indonesia’s T20 conference, accessed virtually from here on Thursday.
He emphasized private capital’s role in financing climate recovery and sustainable development.
“So, the role of private capital is increasingly being recognized as critical to achieving the SDGs (sustainable development goals) and the objectives of the Paris Agreement. Private capital flows in developing countries now breaking supplies development flows,” he said.
Each country is facing increasing impacts of climate change and the continuous degradation and destruction of the natural world, he highlighted.
“I believe now is (the time) to help ensure that all countries and communities can be part of a global green and inclusive recovery. This will be intrinsic; it is not pre-conditional to our efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, protect and restore our planet, and (tackle) poverty and address the continuous challenge of inequality,” he said.
However, the financing costs for the recovery are not uniform across different jurisdictions, he noted.
“This is where inequality becomes, yet again, a vital variable,” he added.
In the medium to long term, redirecting expenditures, increasing spending, efficiency, and boosting domestic revenue collection is also essential to drive down poverty and inequalities and to properly address the climate crisis, he pointed out.
“To this end, the G20 development working group has a crucial role to play as it develops a roadmap to stronger recovery and resilience in developing countries,” he remarked.
In addition, Indonesia has often spearheaded several groundbreaking, sustainable financing initiatives, according to Steiner.
“That includes the issuance of the world’s first green Islamic bond green, sukuk, successfully replicated multiple times in Indonesia and beyond. And more recently an SDG bond, and we are proud as in the team to have played a part in this effort,” he remarked.
Source: Antara News