Keynote in Parliament – on Financing the SDGs

TOGETHERforSDGs

FINANCING THE SDGS: MALAYSIAN PRIVATE SECTOR ROLE IN BRIDGING THE GAP FROM GOALS TO ACTIONS

Highlights of Keynote Address

by

Mr. Stefan Priesner

United Nations Resident Coordinator for Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei

11 September 2019

Kuala Lumpur

Yang Berhormat Dato’ Rashid Hasnon, Deputy Speaker, Dewan Rakyat

YB Steven Sim, Deputy Minister, Youth & Sports

Mr Rizal Ishak, Director, RRJ Capital

Datin Seri Sunita Rajkumar, Chairwoman, Caring Group & Founder of Climate Governance Initiative

Puan Dzuleira Abu Bakar, CEO, MaGIC

Distinguished Participants

Ladies and gentlemen,

Introduction

It’s a pleasure for me to be here again today and I would like to thank the Deputy Speaker for hosting this event at the Parliament – on this important topic of ‘‘Financing the SDGs and the Role of Private Sector in Bridging the Gap from Goals to Action“.

I will focus my remarks today on charting a profile of the SDGs with special reference to Malaysia and ‘making the urgent case for private sector involvement’. I will argue that private sector has a hugely important role and that it makes sense to get involved not only because it is the right thing to do, but also because it makes business sense.

The SDGs come at a time, when, globally speaking, mankind has made unprecedented progress in human development – never before were so many people well educated, lived longer and had higher income at their disposal. This of course is largely due to consecutive industrial revolutions (we are in the 4th now) and associated technological quantum leaps, it is due to economic growth coupled with social advancements.

However, this incredibly rapid development has left people behind (poverty is still a reality in 21st century) and has also resulted in a track record of environmental damage that quickly needs to be reversed to avoid making our planet uninhabitable. Climate change is a reality and world leaders will meet in two weeks in New York to discuss how to urgently accelerate action. The extinction of flora and fauna is happening several thousand times faster than the natural attrition rate. The oceans are polluted with plastic, which – if action is taken at the current pace – will have more mass than the combined marine biomass by 2050.

Indeed, we only have to look around us – at what is happening to people and the planet, global trends and the economy – to see that the call to action is an urgent one and cannot be ignored.

SDGs

Ladies & Gentlemen,

Since 2015, the world embarked something entirely new and ambitious journey – a universally agreed and powerful vision to make the world a better place by 2030.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs were agreed by all 193 member states of the United Nations.
It is a vision of a balanced development between economic growth, social inclusion, environmental protection and peaceful societies.
With clearly defined targets and indicators – it is measurable! (as private sector, you are familiar with the triple bottom line). And private sector knows “what gets measured, gets done”.
The SDGs now, provide a much more sophisticated, comprehensive and strongly mandated benchmark against which companies can assess its impact – in terms of responsible and “SDG” compliant investments, innovations, products and services, and even CSR.
Post the Millennium Development Goals that ran its course from the year 2000 to 2015, the SDGs were developed through an unprecedented consultation process – based on the recognition that the three dimensions of human development was still lagging behind – be it the social, mainly the unfinished agenda of poverty reduction (in all of its multi-dimensional forms), the economic and closely linked to it – the sustainability of the environment that requires an urgent repair agenda.
The SDGs are therefore built on some very important principles – of leaving no one behind; of environmental sustainability; good governance, gender equality and human rights.
And the clock is ticking – we have only 11 years to go.
Annual Global SDG Reports by the UN Secretary-General have consistently shown that we are not going to achieve the SDGs by 2030 – if we do not accelerate our efforts; and if all stakeholders, particular the private sector – do not come on board – to adopt, align and measure themselves against these goals and targets.

Malaysia’s story

Dear friends,

Malaysia is generally seen as a success story of development (in comparison to some other countries).
However, in the era of SDGs, all countries have a long way to go to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda.
The SDGs come with new challenges (it is no longer about averages – poverty reduction as a percentage of population – but it is about using disaggregated data to pinpoint pockets of those that are left behind).
As you aware, the Special Rapporteur of Extreme Poverty, in his end of mission report on Malaysia – just a few weeks ago – had highlighted the pockets of poverty and deprivations that still remain (be it in rural or urban areas) and he challenged Malaysia to aspire to much higher standards given Malaysia’s level of economic progress.
The same applies to environmental issues. Malaysia is one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots with teaming biodiversity on land – in your beautiful rainforests and in your tropical oceans. And despite all the efforts wildlife and ecosystems are still degrading and much more concerted action and investment is needed to reverse these trends.
We commend Government for its efforts in aligning its development planning and budgeting with SDGs.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs is developing the 12th Malaysia Plan – for the period 2021 to 2025.
And we, the United Nations (we are 19 agencies working in Malaysia) work with the Government on this – currently 22 positioning papers developed by UN family on issues from LNOB, environmental dimensions, human rights aspects, gender, IR for development 4.0, etc.
This is part of a comprehensive cooperation with the Government on SDGs – on overall mainstreaming and on specific issues.
We are also working with Government on business and human rights – which is part of the SDG agenda.
And we are looking forward to collaborate with parliament, which has a key role to play in its legislative, oversight and representative functions.
I would therefore like to congratulate the Deputy Speaker, YB Dato’ Rashid and the Parliament for establishing the All-party Parliamentary Group on SDGs.

The need for greater private sector contribution to the SDGs