Solving today’s global environmental and social problems demands a combination of money, long term thinking and innovation. We believe that the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals provide a great framework for addressing these problems. However, the aim is to meet the SDGs in less than ten years the deadline is 2030. It will also be extremely expensive. According to the UN’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network, there is an annual gap of $2 3 trillion between current public and private sector spending on the SDGs a gap that will widen as we near the target year, if we don’t make inroads in closing it.
This massive gap can only be closed through a broad mix of funding sources. Governments, foundations, and impact investors in both private and public markets all have an important role to play, because none of these groups has the scale to achieve success on its own. When it comes to public equities markets specifically, we see a huge opportunity in helping the world, and in making a return by doing so. Just as some SDG targets are best met by governments, foundations or smaller private companies, some are particularly well met by investors in listed equities.
You can read Closing the Gap here
