When DFC joins world leaders later this month at the U.N. General Assembly, it will be against the backdrop of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a set of 17 ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from “no poverty” to “gender equity” and “affordable and clean energy.”
Published in a U.N. resolution in 2017 outlining a path to “peace and prosperity for the planet,” these SDGs provide a framework for quantifying the multiple challenges the world faces, and for tracking progress.
DFC’s broad development mandate outlined in the BUILD Act addresses many of these same challenges, and earlier this year DFC for the first time published data showing how its own investments were advancing the SDGs.
Perhaps more significantly, DFC’s investments are also on track to achieve impact at a rate that outpaces what is needed to achieve many of the goals that are most closely aligned with DFC’s strategic priorities.
DFC’s investments last year advanced 16 of the SDGs including Gender Equality, Clean Energy, and Economic Growth. Some 61 percent of all transactions last year advanced SDG 1, which calls for ending poverty; 77 percent of all transactions addressed SDG 9, focused on building sustainable infrastructure; and the vast majority — 87 percent — of all transactions last year advanced SDG 10 for reducing inequality. Across DFC’s portfolio of active investments, 16 of the SDGs were supported.
This DFC data show tangible progress not only in contributing to the SDGs but in accurately measuring that contribution. After several years of gathering and analyzing impact data, DFC was able to set internal impact targets aligned with the SDGs and define the specific metrics for tracking progress in line with industry standards.
While DFC’s progress to date underscores our commitment to driving positive change relative to pressing global development challenges, we also understand that achieving sustained impact is complex and multidimensional. Our continued progress will require a rigorous ongoing analysis of new data to create a feedback loop to inform new investment decisions. We will also continue to track other indicators of impact, including an analysis of transactions in markets with the greatest unmet development needs, and to assess impact performance relative to original projections.
The SDGs cover a broad set of challenges and by all measures require massive investment, likely to exceed $5 trillion per year — an amount that will require private capital. DFC’s data showcases many of the private-sector-led transactions that are advancing the SDGs and helping solve the world’s most urgent challenges.
About the Authors
Elizabeth Boggs Davidsen is Vice President of DFC’s Office of Development Policy. Larry Sacks is DFC’s Chief Development Officer.
