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Mumbai, Jan 21 () India needs a whopping USD 2.64 trillion investment to meet the UN's sustainable development goals (SDGs), offering the private sector an investment opportunity of over USD 1.12 trillion by 2030, according to a report.
 According to the Standard Chartered SDG Investment Map, the total investment that the country needs to make by 2030 is a whopping USD 2,633.9 billion. Of the total, USD 1,558.8 billion is for clean energy, USD 505.5 billion for transport infrastructure, USD 377.4 billion for digital access; and USD 192.2 billion for clean water and sanitation.
 Of the total USD 2.64 trillion of investment needed, the potential investment opportunity for the private sector is a whopping USD 1.12 trillion with USD 701.5 billion going into clean energy, USD 226.5 billion for digital access, USD 176.9 billion in transport infrastructure, and USD 19.2 billion for clean water and sanitation, said the report.
 For the emerging markets as a whole, the opportunity for the private sector is around USD 10 trillion, said the report adding that "India represents USD 1.124 trillion of SDG opportunity, or more than 10 per cent of the USD 9.668 trillion opportunity for private sector investors across all emerging markets to help achieve the UN goals."
 At USD 701.5 billion, the greatest private sector opportunity in the country is investment in achieving and maintaining universal access to electricity, which is the seventh SDG.
 The study identified opportunities for the private sector to contribute to three infrastructure-focused goals between now and 2030 - SDG 6: Clean water and sanitation, SDG 7: Affordable and clean energy, and SDG 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure.
 Seven per cent of the country's population still do not have access to electricity.
 The opportunity in the water and sanitation is USD 19.2 billion as 24 per cent of the people still do not have access to clean water and sanitation and closing this gap by 2030 will require investment of close to USD 20 billion, said the report. 
 The SDG 9 calls for improvement in industry, innovation and infrastructure by 2030 wherein private sector can chip into transport and digital areas which requires an investment of around USD 226.5 billion. Of the total, transport infrastructure alone will need USD 176.9 billion of investment. The present digital access is only 45 per cent.
 "Opportunity 2030 provides an important map of the SDG opportunities for private sector investors looking to invest with impact and improve the lives of millions of Indians over the next decade," Bharat Padmanabhan of StanChart said.
 The Opportunity 2030 study spans 15 of the world's fastest-growing economies and estimates the potential private-sector investment opportunity to contribute to three of the most investment-ready SDGs (6,7 and 9). BEN HRS

India needs USD 2.64 tln investment to meet SDGs by 2030: Report

New Delhi, Feb 5 () Agricultural warehousing and logistics firm Leap India Food and Logistics Pvt Ltd on Wednesday said it has raised Rs 164 crore in Series-B funding from the Danish SDG Investment fund and Neev Fund. The Danish SDG Investment fund is a fund managed by Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU), Leap India said in a statement. With a twofold mission to connect the grain supply chain from farm to business and to transform itself into a robust Agri-Silos and Logistics platform, Leap India will utilise these funds towards tangible future growth, it added. "SDG Fund's investment, along with round two of investment from the Neev Fund, backed by the UK Government - Department for International Development (DFID) and State Bank of India, will allow us to expand and reach a critical size, while, at the same time, team up with strong, foreign institutional investors," Leap India promoters said. At Leap, the aim is to build a large platform of grain storage sites, which can help FCI and the private sector to make grain storage more efficient with the use of technology and modern storage infrastructure, they added. "By investing in Leap, we are addressing one of India's most pressing challenges, namely helping to improve food storage efficiency and reduce undernourishment, while having secured an attractive risk vs. return profile in the deal," IFU, South Asia VP Deepa Hingorani said. In a similar vein, Neev Fund CIO Manav Bansal said: "We welcome the Danish SDG Investment Fund as a partner and co-investor in Leap India. This fructifies our fidelity to the Sustainable Development Goals of poverty alleviation by doubling farmer income through food security in India." The investment positions Leap India as a trailblazer in defining the food infrastructure industry, which is the next sunrise industry of Asia, he added. Neev Fund was the first investor in Leap India and has also invested alongside the Danish SDG Investment Fund in this round. AKT SHWSHW

Leap India raises Rs 164 cr in Series-B Funding

<keyword id="4343578" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Adani-Green" source="Orion">Adani Green</keyword> Energy Ltd (<keyword id="4621631" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="AGEL" source="Orion">AGEL</keyword>), the world's largest solar power developer and the renewable energy arm of the diversified Adani Group, has received approval for being a member of the <keyword id="13121680" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="GRI-South-Asia-charter" source="Orion">GRI South Asia Charter</keyword> on <keyword id="13121679" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sustainability-Imperatives" source="Orion">Sustainability Imperatives</keyword>. AGEL had initiated this pursuit in response to a call from GRI by becoming a signatory to the GRI <keyword id="52011" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="south-asia" source="Orion">South Asia</keyword> charter in April 2021. Firming up its commitment, the company has now submitted a declaration with clearly identified UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) where it can make an impact in following years. These SDGs are aligned with AGEL's sustainability strategy and show its measurable impact. Organizations that sign up to the GRI Charter agree to uphold three principles: Compliance: Adhere to all applicable national and sub-national laws and regulations wherever they operate. Ethics and governance: Act with the highest ethical standards and integrity, taking decisions and implementing actions in good faith. Transparency and disclosure: Make public their performance on economic, environmental and social dimensions. "AGEL is committed to ramp up its sustainability performance and build credibility as an effective corporate citizen while strengthening internal data management and reporting systems," said Vneet S. Jaain, MD &amp; CEO, AGEL. "Sustainability is integrated into the business and is evident at each stage of the project cycle. Being a pure play renewable energy company, our business goals are in line with climate change concerns and global efforts to mitigate its impacts. Going beyond the obvious advantages of the green business, we have taken many initiatives to make this a responsible corporate organisation." Aditi Haldar, Director of GRI South Asia, said: "The GRI South Asia Charter commits organizations to increase their engagement in support of sustainable development, acting as a catalyst for responsible business practices. I am delighted that AGEL has committed to the aims of the Charter. I would encourage other organizations in India and the wider region to join with us and work together in support of a sustainable future for all." Understanding the three SDGs where AGEL is set to make an impact: SDG 7 which entails access to affordable, modern, and clean energy for all which is essentially reliable and sustainable. To achieve SDG 7, the average tariff across the portfolio will be lower than the national APPC. The cost reduction will be achieved by improvement of technology, optimisation of resources using IoT and machine learning related digital interventions. SDG 9 has a more investment appetite which calls on to build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation, to achieve the ambitious goal of renewable capacity addition by keeping the average tariff below national level. In addition, many digital interventions like IoT, machine learning and innovations are in the pipeline. Digitalisation is perceived as the key to future-ready remote operations, improved efficiencies, resource optimisation and energy efficiency, leading to cost reduction and keeping tariffs competitive. SDG 13 encourages companies to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. AGEL has announced a target of having operating renewable energy generation capacity of 45 GW by 2030. AGEL has aligned its operations and capex plans to meet these objectives. Through these measures, the company is committed to mitigate climate change and contribute to global sustainable development goals. In our journey towards this goal, we displaced 14.64 million tCO2 until March 2021. The GRI South Asia Charter on Sustainability Imperatives - a unique creation by GRI South Asia Hub - is a clarion call for decision and action for business and its stakeholders. It is anchored to a framework of transparency and disclosure, as enshrined in the GRI Standards, and provides an ameliorating way out of the climate change quagmire. Given the Covid-19 recovery context, it is essential to focus on the SDGs and respond to the call to build back better while keeping in mind the underlying principle of leaving no one behind. The Charter serves as an important stimulus to implement sustainability-oriented imperatives that help to realise the UN Sustainable Development Goals by the end of the current decade. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/meesho-allows-employees-to-permanently-work-from-anywhere/articleshow/89404646.cms">Meesho allows employees to permanently work from anywhere</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/bank-of-baroda-surges-10-as-net-profit-doubles-aims-to-grow-loan-book-by-12-next-year/articleshow/89404686.cms">Bank of Baroda surges 10% as net profit doubles, aims to grow loan book by 12% next year</a>

Adani Green gets GRI South Asia charter member status

<keyword id="76451" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="adani" source="Orion">Adani</keyword> Airport Holdings Ltd (<keyword id="1497287" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="aahl" source="Orion">AAHL</keyword>), a wholly owned subsidiary of <keyword id="258914" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="adani-enterprises-ltd" source="Orion">Adani Enterprises Ltd</keyword>, has announced a successful closure of funding of $250 million senior secured three-year ECB facility from consortium of <keyword id="127691" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="standard-chartered-bank" source="Orion">Standard Chartered Bank</keyword> (SCB) and Barclays Bank PLC. The facility has an option to raise additional $200 million. The financing structure enables a scalable capital solution with flexibility to tap global capital markets in line with AAHL's vision of providing a transformational airport infrastructure platform. AAHL is leading the Adani portfolio's foray into B2C infrastructure assets. AAHL business is centred around convenience to consumer both via physical and digital channels. "We are focussed on delivering high quality infrastructure access to our consumers both through physical and digital channels," said an AAHL spokesperson. "The first phase of our capital management plan is now set in motion with the funding of AAHL, MIAL and NMIAL, and we will now focus on scaling up the airports business into one of the largest airport platforms globally. We are grateful to our stakeholders and consumers for their continued support and their confidence in us." This issuance by AAHL, marks the first milestone in its capital management plan. Earlier this week, MIAL placed $750 million private placement to Apollo, and $1.74 billion financial closure for NMIAL from the domestic banking system. With this, AAHL has tapped three different pools of capital cumulating to $2.74 billion. AAHL is now geared for the next phase of its capital management plan which includes tapping the public capital markets and further construction facilities to enable access to long term capital sources for infrastructure development. AAHL is an integrated airport network consisting of eight airports located around city centres controlling 50 per cent of top 10 domestic routes, 23 per cent of the total Indian air traffic, and 30 per cent of India's air cargo. AAHL airports handle around 200 million consumers, including passengers and non-passengers. AAHL is fully committed to the UN Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) with a specific focus on SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and SDG 13 (Climate Action), demonstrated through initiatives that include solar energy installation projects, electric vehicle usage, green buildings, conversion to LED lamps, among others. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/ril-tumbles-nearly-4-on-weaker-than-expected-profits-slowdown-in-retail-business-and-decline-in-jio-subscriber-additions/articleshow/91433432.cms">RIL tumbles nearly 4% on weaker than expected profits, slowdown in retail business and decline in Jio subscriber additions</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/news/snacks-health-bills-electricity-bills-and-more-will-add-to-your-chunkier-home-loan-emis/articleshow/91429752.cms">Snacks, health bills, electricity bills and more will add to your chunkier home loan EMIs</a>

Adani Airports secures $250 million ECB funding for airport development

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table lead-image-large"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Business Insider attended the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit at United Nations headquarters on Tuesday and Wednesday.</li><li>The SDGs are a set of interconnected goals for 2030 that are aimed at eliminating politically destabilizing inequality and extreme poverty, and significantly reducing man's effect on climate change damaging ecosystems.</li><li>The predominant theme was that all stakeholders are off track in achieving these goals, but that it is not too late.</li><li>The week inspired companies to double down on sustainability initiatives, and for heads of state to encourage more public-private partnerships.</li><li>This article is part of Business Insider's ongoing series on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/better-capitalism">Better Capitalism</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>While the United Nations General Assembly coverage this week has been dominated by news surrounding President Donald Trump and 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, there was also a major recommitment to the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by heads of state, NGOs, and business leaders. The bottom line: We're not doing enough to meet our 2030 goals, but it's not too late.Business Insider attended the SDG Summit at UN HQ on Tuesday and Wednesday, and we've collected the highlights for you.<h2>The SDGs affect everyone.</h2>The SDGs came out of the UNGA 2015 week, and are 17 goals that the 193 countries of the General Assembly agreed to aim for achieving by 2030. The health of the planet itself was a primary reason for their urgency, but rampant rising inequality and poverty were as well. The member states have recognized that a world dominated by failing ecosystems, inequality of wealth and opportunity, and of extreme poverty is unsustainable and a threat to prosperity and peace.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div><h2>Business leaders are recognizing they're way off track ahead of a new decade.</h2>"We are far from where we need to be," UN Secretary General António Gutteres said in the summit's opening statement. "We are off track." That became a refrain for the summit's entirety.And while we mostly heard from heads of state and NGO leaders, those in the private sector acknowledged their place in the plan, too.The UN Global Compact, a corporate sustainability group, and Accenture, the professional services firm, published a joint report ahead of the SDG Summit titled, <a href="https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/strategy/ungcceostudy">"A Decade to Deliver: A Call to Business Action."</a> Its bottom line, drawn from a survey of 1,000 CEOs from around the world: "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ceo-survey-finds-desire-to-accelerate-sustainability-by-2030">We have failed in doing our part</a> in achieving the goals by 2030. But we want to, and it's not too late!"Peter Lacy, Accenture's head of strategy in the UK and Ireland and one of the report's authors, wrote to us that CEOs have blamed "an ever more competitive and challenging business environment, and an intense set of pressures that include global trade and political uncertainties, pressure from activist investors, and the pace and scale of the technology revolutions taking place in digital, biological, and physical innovation." That is, CEOs argued that they want to do more, but it's hard when shareholders and industry upheaval has focused their attention on the short-term.<h2>And business has to take them seriously if the SDGs have any chance of being achieved.</h2>"Without business action, there is no achieving the Sustainable Development Goals," B Lab's Laura Velez Villa told us. Villa is overseeing B Lab's collaboration with the UNGC on the SDG Action Manager, a tool that will help businesses of any size develop programs that will help them achieve the goals. It's set to launch in January. Mastercard vice chair Ann Cairns was the only private sector representative to speak during the SDG summit. She noted that her company is working toward the SDGs "because we need to innovate to survive. None of us can do well in a failing world." She noted that Mastercard was doing its part by bringing nearly 500 million people in deeply impoverished regions into the banking system."It is possible to mass mobilize business," said International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Secretary-General John Denton.Both Cairns and Denton expressed the idea that businesses pursuing sustainability will be doing so in a way that not only helps achieve what UN members want for their governments, but will be benefiting their companies over the long term.There's also a critical mass of young people demanding this level of accountability of companies to the environment, communities, and workers, and that means more consumers and employees are demanding this. And that leads to the next point.<h2>Youth are the biggest motivators.</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>Thunberg kicked off the Climate Summit on Monday, three days after inspiring the world's largest climate change protest, with an impassioned speech demanding action to end man-made climate change. And while she was never mentioned, her impact was felt through the SDG Summit.Secretary-General Guterres and multiple heads of state explained that a generation of young people have taken the SDGs to heart more intensely than others. B Lab's Villa said that while it can be disheartening to discover that broadly speaking, more companies spoke about sustainability initiatives than actually working toward them, she was inspired by the way million of young people this week have demonstrated there is a true demand for them."We will hold ourselves accountable and you can be sure we will hold you accountable," said Trisha Shetty, 26, speaking for the Young Leaders for the SDGs.<h2>All of the SDGs are interrelated, and you can't pick and choose which to pursue.</h2>It can be easy to associate sustainability with green initiatives, but the SDG approach is holistic. Peter Messerli, a professor at the University of Bern and the co-chair of the UN's <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/gsdr2019">Global Sustainable Development Report</a>, likened the SDGs to a Rubik's cube. In the same way you would never complete the puzzle if you focused on connecting one color at a time, you will never achieve the SDGs if you focus on completing one at a time. For example, he said if a country were to solely work at ending hunger at all costs, farmland could be affected in such a way that it damages ecosystems and farmers' ways of life.A country, NGO, or company can, of course, dedicate programs to a specific goal, like building sustainable cities or increasing women's equality. The point is that if one is serious about the SDGs, actions in the pursuit of one goal have to be made while mindful of the 16 others.<h2>Cooperation is necessary both between and among the public and private sectors.</h2>"Private sector companies hold the key," said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, reflecting another major theme of the summit.Sweden Prime Minister Stefan Löfven touted the <a href="http://sdg.iisd.org/news/leadership-group-to-drive-industry-transition-to-low-carbon-economy/">Leadership Group for Industry Transition</a> announced earlier in the week with India. The two countries are leading the group, which includes several other countries and a number of companies, and are using it as a way to build public-private partnerships for the sake of transitioning to cleaner energy on an industrial level, and for sharing best practices among member states.The UNGC-Accenture survey also found that CEOs believe the only way to achieve the SDGs would be through sharing best practices, even among competitors. There are already models for such partnerships, like the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, founded by Walmart and Patagonia and now numbering 250 members.<h2>The week is creating momentum.</h2>Michael Bloomberg took advantage of the UN crowd with his Global Business Forum this week, and a major theme was finding the business opportunity in the SDGs. As <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/cae3a64c-e001-11e9-9743-db5a370481bc">the Financial Times reported</a> that Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, former Treasury secretary Hank Paulson, and HSBC's head of global banking and markets, Samir Assaf, all expressed excitement at the chances for making money in sustainable businesses.There were other business leaders inspired by the fervor, like Danone CEO Emmanuel Faber, who announced Monday <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/danone-ceo-emmanuel-faber-launches-biodiversity-climate-initiative-2019-9">a major biodiversity campaign</a> for his international food giant."I sensed a wide recognition that we are off track," said UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, but also a "real determination" from all stakeholders to get on track.There's a decade left.

7 crucial developments from the UN's sustainability summit, and what they'll mean for businesses and our environment

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed concern over the global food situation wherein "more than 820 million people do not have enough to eat" while one billion tonnes of food is wasted every year. In his message on '<keyword id="59209" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="World-Food-Day">World Food Day</keyword>', which was released here on Thursday by the UN India, he said, "It is unacceptable that hunger is on the rise at a time when the world wastes more than one billion tonnes of food every year." Two billion men, women, and children are overweight or obese. Unhealthy diets present an enormous risk of disease and death, Guterres said, adding that "it is time to change how we produce and consume, including to reduce greenhouse emissions". World Food Day marked call for zero hunger "for a world where nutritious food is available and affordable for everyone, everywhere". Transforming food systems is crucial for delivering all the sustainable development goals (SDG) and "that is why I hope to convene a 'Food Systems Summit in 2021' as part of a decade of action to deliver SDG. As a human family, a world free of hunger is our imperative, he said. Climate emergency was an increasing threat to food, the UN Secretary General warned. According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report, India has the world's largest undernourished population with 194.4 million (14.5 per cent). About 20.8 per cent children under the age of five years are underweight. Similarly, 37.9 per cent of children in that age group are stunted. As high as 51.4 per cent of Indian women in the reproductive age of 15-49 years are anaemic, the report claimed. JBL KJ

UN Secy says 820 million people go hungry as billion tonnes of food is wasted

<ul><li>India is going to fulfill the <keyword id="879547" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="sustainable-development-goals">sustainable development goals</keyword> before 2030. </li><li>The government claims to have reduced maternal and infant mortality rates, and under-five mortality rate, said the minister without giving any figures. </li><li>However, some of Javedkar’s claims conflict with one of a report released by the Indian government earlier this year. </li><li>In July 2019, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India released a report highlighting the gaps in achieving the key objectives of the 2030 Agenda. </li></ul> Environment minister <keyword id="119642" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Prakash-Javadekar">Prakash Javadekar</keyword> today said that India will achieve its health-related sustainability goals well in advance. “We are happy to announce that the goals set for 2030 will be achieved much earlier,” <a href="https://twitter.com/PIB_India">said the minister.</a> The goal is to keep maternal mortality rate to less than 70 deaths per 100,000 live births. As per the target, under- 5 mortality should go down to 25 deaths per 1000 live births, <a href="https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-survival/child-survival-sdgs/">according to the UN. And infant mortality rate should go down to zero by 2030. </a> A release by Press Information Bureau also said that mortality of infants, mothers and children under-five is declining. “At the current rate of decline, India should able to reach its <keyword id="620876" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="SDG">SDG</keyword> target (MMR-70, U5MR-25) much before the due year i.e. 2030,”<a href="https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1587494"> said the release. </a> These claims come two months after Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) raised doubts that India may fall short in health-related sustainable goals. This is primarily due to inadequate spending on primary healthcare infrastructure. It also cited lack of data to track the progress of SDG as one of the reasons. <a href="http://www.censusindia.gov.in/vital_statistics/SRS_Bulletins/MMR%20Bulletin-2014-16.pdf">According to the Census</a> in 2017, as many as 130 women died per 100,000 live births. Infant mortality and under-five mortality rate was at 33 and 39 deaths per 1,000 live births. As per CAG, spending on healthcare itself is lower than what is budgeted for. It pointed out a massive gap in proposed budget and allocated budget into sprucing up India’s healthcare. The National Health Mission was allocation 13.6% less in 2018-19 than the proposed budget,<a href="https://www.indiaspend.com/india-unlikely-to-meet-health-related-sustainable-development-goals-says-govt-auditor/"> reported India spend. </a> The states are not spending enough either. As per National Health Policy 2017’s recommendations, states should spend 8% of their budgets by 2020. As many as seven states spent anywhere between 3.29% and 5.32% between 2012-2017. Overall, India spends a mere <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india-spends-just-1-2-of-its-gdp-on-healthcare-but-a-policy-can-change-that/articleshow/64665303.cms">1.2% of its GDP on healthcare.</a> It ranks lower than Singapore, which itself is known for its low spending on public health.

Indian minister is happy that they reduced mother and child mortality but CAG reports say something else

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table lead-image-large"><div><div class="image on-image">International Chamber of CommerceAndrew Wilson, the International Chamber of Commerce's permanent observer to the United Nations.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>At the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/unga-2019">United Nations General Assembly</a> this week, one of the main topics discussed was the urgency required for completing the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/sdg-summit-2019">Sustainable Development Goals</a> (SDGs) by 2030.</li><li>UNGA's member states agreed to the SDGs in 2015 as a way to end destabilizing inequality, extreme poverty, and man-made climate change destroying ecosystems.</li><li>The International Chamber of Commerce sets standards of international trade, and its ambassador told Business Insider that <keyword id="49089" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sustainability">sustainability</keyword> plans presented at the UNGA will amount to nothing more than "show and tell" unless systemic changes are made.</li><li>The ICC has determined eight policy points affecting financial regulation that would make investing in sustainability more attractive to banks and investors. It shared them with Business Insider ahead of their publication in a detailed report shared next month at the annual meeting of the World Bank and IMF.</li><li>This article is part of our ongoing series on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/better-capitalism">Better Capitalism</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>Andrew Wilson sounded frustrated.The parade of heads of state, business leaders, and fellow NGO reps that spoke about sustainability we had just seen at the United Nations General Assembly was something he's very familiar with, as the UN ambassador for the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). It's the world's largest business organization, promoting international trade and regulation among its 46 million members, and has observer status at the UN. Wilson's been in the role for 18 months, and he's heard lots of talk around sustainability, but hasn't seen much progress.He told Business Insider that the only way the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be accomplished is if there are systemic policy changes, not a gradually increasing series of modest national and corporate programs, "because otherwise the UN system simply stays as a high-level week with a nice show-and-tell."The SDGs are 17 goals for eliminating extreme inequality, poverty, and man-made climate change by 2030. The urgency comes not only from a spirit that these are the right things to do, but from the real dangers that these afflictions are posing to the long-term health of large and small nations alike. One of this week's UNGA conclusions was that the world is far off track from meeting the goals in time.We attended the inaugural SDG Summit on Tuesday and Thursday, where the SDGs were the star of the show, and afterwards debriefed with Wilson. Wilson and his ICC colleagues may be frustrated by the lack of progress, but they're also confident that know what needs to be done."We need to take sustainability out of the competitive space, in general terms," said Wilson, who has been with the ICC for five years and previously worked in the British government. "We need to make sustainable business the baseline on which people operate, not a potential competitive advantage."He shared with us a preview of the eight policy proposals the organization will be presenting at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund's annual meeting in October.They go as follows:<h2>Changes to capital mobilization</h2><h3>1. 'Broaden the scope of central bank and regulatory mandates.'</h3>"Explore the potential to expand the concept of <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/gfdr/gfdr-2016/background/financial-stability">'financial stability'</a> in central bank and regulatory mandates to incorporate both sustainability-related risks and objectives. Given the growing risks posed to the global economy by climate change, environmental degradation, and global inequality, the objective of financial stability can no longer be separated from sustainable development imperatives."<h3>2. 'Align prudential regulation frameworks with sustainability risks.'</h3>"Explore the feasibility of including risks associated with climate and other sustainability factors in institutions' risk management policies (building on the work of the <a href="https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/">Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures</a>) - with the objective of adjusting capital requirements under <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/10/understanding-basel-3-regulations.asp">Basel III</a>/<a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/solvency-capital-requirement.asp">Solvency II</a> and related regulatory frameworks to properly account for sustainability-related risks."<h3>3. 'Establish sustainable finance taxonomies.'</h3>"Establish a process to develop a globally consistent taxonomy for climate change, [as well as] environmentally and socially sustainable investment activities to provide a supporting factor for the calculation of <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/capitalrequirement.asp">regulatory capital</a>. Such a framework could provide a basis for a recalibration of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/post/preview?post_id=5d8e468a2e22af204838b608&amp;mode=desktop">prudential requirements</a> under Basel III/Solvency II to positively incentivize the financing of sustainable assets - similar, for instance, to the scaling approach taken for certain forms of small business financing under existing prudential regimes."<h3>4. 'Embed sustainability in credit ratings.'</h3>"Explore the potential for sustainability factors to be taken into account in credit rating assessments - including for sovereign debt."<h3>What this means</h3>Following the global financial crisis, central banks adopted new regulations intended to reduce the amount of risk banks would take. The ICC wants central banks to interpret risk differently when assessing investments in sustainability.As Wilson said, a bank right now would be less willing to invest in an SDG-friendly solar energy development in Nigeria, a developing country, than it would be investing in a coal plant there. Investors are recognizing potential profits in sustainable industries like clean energy, but the ICC wants risk assessment adjusted to reflect the risks inherent in doing business as usual. Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-un-sdg-summit">7 crucial developments from the UN's sustainability summit, and what they'll mean for businesses and our environment</a><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">United NationsThe UN SDGs were adopted by UN member states in 2015, and have a target completion year of 2030.</div></div></div><h2>Changes for consumers</h2><h3>5. 'Clarify fiduciary duties.'</h3>"Establish clear duties for both institutional investors and asset managers in relation to sustainability considerations."<h3>6. 'Standardize SDG disclosures.'</h3>"Work towards greater standardization of sustainability-related reporting to address growing <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fragmentation.asp">market fragmentation</a> and promote comprehensive SDG-alignment."<h3>7. 'Empower consumers.'</h3>"Require sustainability preferences to be taken into account when assessing a client's needs."<h3>What this means</h3>Business leaders <a href="http://businessinsider.com/blackrock-larry-fink-investors-esg-metrics-2018-11">like BlackRock's Larry Fink</a> have called for more formal ways of measuring environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria of securities, and that's in line with what the ICC is calling for here.It wants an aspect of a company's health to be how it is building long-term value through investments in sustainability, and that way the market will reward them accordingly.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ceo-survey-finds-desire-to-accelerate-sustainability-by-2030">A survey asked 1,000 CEOs how they felt about their work on the environment, and most of them gave the same answer - not that great</a><h2>Change in priorities</h2><h3>8. 'Unlock dormant assets.'</h3>"Establish appropriate schemes to unlock the estimated US$100 billion of assets that lie <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dormant-account.asp">'dormant'</a> where financial institutions have lost contact with their beneficial owner - building on existing good practices in a number of countries. Such assets could be earmarked towards SDG implementation nationally or on a global level."<h3>What this means</h3>When a personal financial account goes dormant after a specific period of time, it becomes property of the state (if the funds are subsequently requested, they are returned). In December 2016, the Japanese government decided to make use of dormant funds, which were rising at a rate of ¥100 billion ($927 million) annually, <a href="https://www.nippon.com/en/currents/d00298/japan-moves-to-use-dormant-bank-accounts-for-socially-beneficial-activities.html">for socially beneficial causes</a>. The program went into effect this year, and the ICC believes it could be a model for other nations. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackstone-ceo-stephen-schwarzman-gives-best-entrepreneur-advice">Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman said his firm's rough early days taught him why every entrepreneur should be prepared to be in 'psychological pain in a way you haven't before'</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

A UN ambassador told us why he's angry at the the business world's 'show-and-tell' approach to sustainability - and then he shared an advance copy of his plan to fix that

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image">AP</div></div></div>Elon Musk and his cousin Lyndon Rive have previously warned utilities <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/musk-on-utilities-2014-2">that they must adapt to growing pressures for renewables or face existential declines.</a>
Now their firm, SolarCity, is coming forward with statistics they say shows the utilities are, at best, completely befuddled by the challenge - and at worst, may actively be throwing up obstacles along the path to connecting solar customers to the grid.
So far, out of the 100 customers who've had units installed at their homes since they were went on sale at the end of 2011, just 12 have been hooked into their local grid, SolarCity says. The firm now has a backlog of 500 applications for connections, and have had to stop adding to their queue. 
 "We're trying to drive down the road, but there's a roadblock. We're not going to drive through a roadblock, we're just waiting for roadblocks to be removed."
If certain steps in the installation process are not completed within a given period, they say, the customer must re-submit their application with a new $800 fee. They are calling this "illegal," arguing the fee itself violates a California statute governing enhancements to distributed solar. 
For many customers, the delays have bloomed into years.
"It's not only arbitrary but punitive," SolarCity spokesman Will Craven told BI. "We try to be a good partner. We wanted to give utilities the benefit of doubt in the first year - it's a new technology, we wanted to collaborate on how to go about this. But as time has gone on, we realized we may not have good faith partner."
The most stubborn utility, they say, has been Southern California Edison, which is seeking to charge a $2,900 net metering fee on top of other costs it is seeking. That figure that approaches a quarter of the cost of the total system cost, SolarCity says. The other major California utilities, Pacific Gas and Electric and San Diego Gas and Electric, are only charging $600 for the net metering cost. The firm says it's willing to eat that amount the $600 for now, but is rejecting the $2,900 figure.
In a statement, SCE said it is "working to address many of the complex issues raised by emerging technologies, including the additional costs of these interconnections."
Pacific Gas and Electric acknowledged there may have been some delays, but said they would have mostly been customer-specific. San Diego Gas and Electric, meanwhile, says SolarCity has only submitted two completed applications, and are awaiting a third. 
SolarCity counters that SDG&amp;E has, like the other firms, continuously changed their requirements. 
"It was only when SDG&amp;E notified us that they were considering charging our customers a monthly standby charge that things ground to a halt-we didn't want to burden our customers with a charge they hadn't considered, and that we didn't believe was legal in the first place," Craven said in a follow-up email to BI. But he said the firm would continue to work with SDG&amp;E toward hooking up more customers.
Ironically, California just approved a new mandate that utilities must install 1,325 megawatts-worth of electricity storage capacity by the end of 2020. Craven says it is thus even more inexplicable that they'd throw up what he calls roadblocks.
Joel Eddins, who with his wife and three children live in San Bernardino County near Los Angeles, says he's been waiting since August 2012, when he first purchased his battery unit, to get his system connected by Southern California Edison. 
"They're not very helpful, they just don't care," he said. "It's like when a kid rides city bus, if he jumped out in front and the driver decided they didn't feel like picking the person up. I feel like I'm being treated like that as adult."
He sent along a photo to illustrate the almost comically absurd situation he faces: SCE has installed two different meters on the side of his house, in addition to his regular home meter, as part of their grid connection process. 
<div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image">Joel Eddins</div></div> 
The California Public Utilities Commission, directed BI to comments made by its president at a recent panel on which he sat with Musk and Rive in which he expressed sympathy with SolarCity's case. Craven says the commission should make a final ruling in the coming weeks on net metering costs and application fees.

SolarCity Says California Utilities Are 'Throwing Up Roadblocks' On Installing Batteries

When it comes to Sustainable Development Goals, India ranks quite low in the index. Out of 149 countries, India ranked at 110th spot as per a new index. 
 
Sweden topped the Sustainable Development Goals. 
 
The index was launched by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Bertelsmann Stiftung. 
 
The index collected available data for 149 countries to assess where each country stands in 2016 with regard to achieving the SDGs. 
 
It ranks countries based on their performance across the 17 global goals, a set of ambitious objectives across the three dimensions of sustainable development - economic development, social inclusion and environmental sustainability, underpinned by good governance. 
 
The index helps countries identify priorities for early actions and shows that every country faces major challenges in achieving the SDGs. 
 
"The Sustainable Development Goals are stretch goals, but they are within reach if countries work towards them with clarity and determination. The SDG Index and Dashboard can help each country to chart out a practical path for achieving the Goals," said SDSN Director Jeffrey Sachs. 
 
The countries which are closest to fulfilling the goals are not the biggest economies but comparably small, developed countries. 
Sweden tops the chart and is followed by Denmark and Norway on the top three performing countries. 
 
Germany (6) and the UK(10) are the only G7 countries to be found among the top ten performers. The US ranks 25th on the index, while Russia and China rank 47th and 76th respectively. 
 
India ranks 110th on the list followed by Lesotho on 113th position, Pakistan (115), Myanmar (117), Bangladesh (118) and Afghanistan (139). Poor and <keyword id="54124" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="developing-countries">developing countries</keyword> understandably score lowest on the SDG Index as they often have comparably little resources at their disposal. 
The Central African Republic and Liberia are at the bottom of the Index and still have the longest way to go in achieving the SDGs. 
 
A year after world leaders adopted the SDGs, the new index shows that all countries face major challenges in achieving these ambitious goals by 2030. 
 
No country has achieved the SDGs and even top Sweden scores "red" on several goals. 
 
The report shows how leaders can deliver on their promise and urges countries not to lose the momentum for important reforms. 
In order to achieve the ambitious goals, immediate and comprehensive action is needed in the crucial first years of implementation of the new global agenda, it noted. 
 
The report highlights major challenges per region: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries struggle to meet the goals on inequality, sustainable consumption, climate change and ecosystems, while many developing countries face major difficulties in providing basic social services and infrastructure access to their populations. 
 
East and South Asia outperform many other developing regions but unmet challenges persist in health and education. 
 
For Latin America and the Caribbean, high levels of inequality are among the most pressing issues. 
 
In spite of significant progress in recent years in Sub-Saharan Africa, the world's poorest region faces major challenges across almost all SDGs, with extreme poverty, hunger and health as major areas where substantial improvement is needed.

Out of 149 nations, India is at 110th spot on Sustainable Development Goals index

The <keyword id="166486" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Millennium-Development-Goals">Millennium Development Goals</keyword> (MDGs), which draw near to completion in 2015, have given way to the new <keyword id="55804" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="sustainable-development">Sustainable Development</keyword> Goals (SDGs) la<keyword id="6355835" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="UN">un</keyword>ched at the UN General Assembly. The event and an array of other events including the SDG Business Forum, the Social Good Summit and the Clinton Global Initiative saw large participation from various stakeholders. 
	
		In understanding and evaluating the presentations at these events, some of the pertinent points that look seemingly obvious are: First, few presentations gave any indication of serious learning from the wins-- and losses--during 20 years of MDG work. A delineation of the models that work (i.e., more sustainable and scalable) is seen as clearly missing. Second, in the absence of learning frameworks, presenters reiterate the same problems, now expanded to 17 goals and 169 targets. The result is a plea for more resources to support the new SDGs without any evidence that those resources will be employed more effectively. Third, the core request at these events was for more than four trillion dollars per year to implement the SDGs over 15 years. 
	 
	
		This logically leads to two important questions i.e., how can you call the goals replacing the MDGs sustainable if they lead with requests for resources that are not? At the beginning of the SDG process, what should the worlds’ governments, corporates and NGO leaders focus on now to make the new global goals actually sustainable?
	 
	
		Answering these questions is at the heart of societal businesses value creation that seeks to find the most innovative and sustainable models for solving intractable challenges. Societal business search firms have advocated tirelessly the need to identify models that 1) can be scaled and 2) are not reliant on non-profit funding (which is donation-dependent and driven by the dictates of donors.) 
	 
	
		The best models that have found have had social entrepreneurs at the helm who see the world differently. They frequently take the “against” position (<a href="http://goo.gl/XHWj6x">http://goo.gl/XHWj6x</a>). For instance, in branding, claiming the against position means using a competitor’s dominant spend and mindshare to carve out an anti-space—the Un-cola for example. Social entrepreneurs are quintessential against positioners. [Microfinance inventor] Mohammed Yunus stated it clearly: “I looked at how traditional banks do business and we did the opposite.” In very practical terms, these stubborn, opinionated entrepreneurs frequently show up after the aid and development models have failed or at least failed to become sustainable. Their arrival on the scene is less a ‘Kumbaya’ moment and more a “disruptive innovation” one.
	 
	
		Social entrepreneurs are relentlessly focused on what they have learned. Their conversations highlight the innovations that are rolled into ingenious, often cross-sector models and as the people who use these models to solve their own and others problems. Their resource requests are framed by why their model should be scaled and how it can replace less effective approaches. The primary goal for these innovative social entrepreneurs is to demonstrate that appropriate capacity building and scale enables their hybrid or for-profit innovation models to solve problems sustainably, thus reducing dependence on fundraising. 
	 
	
		To deliberate on these emerging business models The Shared Value Summit 2015, is being organized by Shared Value India on November 20th, 2015 (<a href="http://sharedvalue.in/svs2015/">http://sharedvalue.in/svs2015/</a>). The summit will see participation from various stakeholders who will deliberate and discuss key opportunities that businesses can and are leveraging to create societal value. 
	 
	
		Already, social entrepreneurs have offered five critical solutions to the problem of making the Sustainable Development Goals truly sustainable: First, recognizing that any commitment to achieving the SDGs must avoid Einstein’s famous definition of insanity: Doing the same thing and expecting different results. Second, authentic commitment to the SDGs requires leaders to recognize one simple reality: It is not possible to have sustainable development goals without sustainable models that leverage under-utilized resources. Third, serious SDG innovators recognize that the current donor, foreign aid and resource investment processes are not sustainable. They call attention to inadequacies and offer new models and leadership to move significant resources from unsustainable models to sustainable models. Fourth, any leader pleading for more funding should be able to explain how his/her organization will deploy that funding to scale solutions that are more sustainable than those that failed to achieve most of the MDGs. Finally, significantly improved sustainability requires the ongoing evaluation of all investments, models and approaches employed. The most sustainable solutions should then be aggressively adopted across sector and country boundaries, no matter their origin or disruption.
	 
	
		Increasingly, leaders are being asked to challenge the status quo. These leaders—often disruptors—no longer target seed stage or individual impact investments. The most impactful leaders know that pilots do not lead to scaling or to sustainability. 
	 
	
		Social entrepreneurs thrive at risk taking and from learning rapidly about what doesn’t work. These are the sustainable, scale-oriented models and management teams that are best equipped to handle significant capital and to shift how these goals are achieved to sustainable development goals.
	 (The article is co-authored with David Wilcox, the founder of ReachScale, an organization that aligns the <keyword id="76104" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="social-responsibility">social responsibility</keyword> goals of corporations with high potential social entrepreneurs working in areas of common interest.) 
image credits: 7continents5oceans

What should the world do to make sustainable development goals truly 'sustainable'?

India <keyword id="624" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Women">women</keyword> have come a long way in terms of establishing themselves as leaders, decision makers, bread earners, company representatives and entrepreneurs. These leaders are encouraging women to have a transformed lifestyle. We’re seeing women rising the ranks in business, technology and government from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific. There’s been no better time to be a woman in India than right now. By and large, women are safer, more prosperous and have more opportunities than they ever had before. 
 
Recently when the world was showering praises on ISRO’s feat of launching 104 satellites, the untold story of the “Rocket Women” of India was also unfolding simultaneously. These brilliant women scientists have taken the Indian space programme to new heights. And they are not the only ones who have broken the glass ceiling to reach for the skies, literally, but every sector is witnessing an increasing presence of women in the boardroom. A case in point will be the banks or the technology companies where women now dominate the top roles. 
 
Women have never had it so good 
Long gone are the excusable days that women are not part of the corporate composition. According to the World Economic Forum, more than a quarter of a billion women have entered the labor force in the past 10 years, up from 1.5 billion to 1.75 billion worldwide. 
 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 of the <keyword id="6355833" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="united-nations">United Nations</keyword> 2030 global agenda specifically sets out to achieve gender equality and female empowerment. And according to ADB, a tenant to the achievement of SDG 5 is the use of Information and Communications Technology. SDG 10 – Reducing Inequalities connects in equal measure to the active inclusion of women and girls in educational, social and economic spheres. It’s an inclusion that ICT effectively drives. 
 
Women have come a long way, still a long walk 
Despite accomplishments of women leaders from Asia, there are many hurdles to be crossed. For example, India has among the worst levels of gender wage disparity — men earning more than women in similar jobs — with the gap exceeding 30 per cent, according to the Global Wage Report 2016-17 released by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in December 2016. 
 Further at a regional level, Asia loses between US$16 billion to US$30 billion annually as a result of gender gaps in education and then employment. According to the <keyword id="240184" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="International-Labour-Organization">International Labour Organization</keyword> (ILO) and ADB, the region reportedly loses between US$42 billion to US$47 billion annually due to women’s limited access to employment opportunities. 
 
Clearly, if more women were active participants in the economy, we all benefit. Eliminating gender disparity in the region would increase per capita income for all by 70% in roughly 60 years and that’s something everyone should be able to get behind. 
 
Women need to feel empowered and supported by their companies in order to put themselves forward for senior positions. Without this commitment and backing from the business community, the current imbalanced situation which the corporate sector is facing won’t change. According to the TimesJobs Job Outlook Survey 2016–17, an increased number of corporates in India will have a larger focus on gender diversity in 2017. Nearly 70 percent of organizations said they would be hiring more women in 2017 and 20 percent said that they would hire women professionals for CXO roles in the years to come. 
 
Technology to empower <keyword id="42463" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Women">Indian women</keyword> A 2016 report done by <keyword id="50041" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="KPMG">KPMG</keyword> found that communications technology, including mobile phones, promotes entrepreneurial activity of women, improving business practices overcoming gender barriers. This is corroborated by two thirds of working women who reported that having a mobile means they have, or would have, greater access to business and employment opportunities (GSMA). 
 
Over 110 million Indian women are active users of internet and it is growing at a rate of 46% every year, according to a report by Internet and Mobile Association of India and IMRB International. The internet’s ability to enable access and reduce cost barriers for such young female pioneers is essential in a world where remuneration inequalities still exist. With the right knowledge, a world of opportunity is at their fingertips—a world of female-empowered initiatives and gender neutral marketplaces—where outputs are judged solely on quality and void of predisposed discrimination. 
 
The steepest, but surest climb is in India 
The issue of women empowerment has never been more relevant in India. As one of the world’s fastest growing economies, in India, the creation and growth of digital economies and women empowerment should go hand-in-hand. 
 
Telecom companies should provide the power of digital communication, enabling its female customers to improve their lives, build societies and secure a better future for all. Empowering women in societies and creating a positive local impact should be at the core of all actions. 
 
Digital innovation has the ability to bring more women and disenfranchised into the fold. It gives an opportunity to promote inclusive growth and rewrite society’s gender code now. The rise of female inclusion through digital innovation around the world will provide more gender neutral opportunities and mute, if not completely extinguish the age-old – and frankly no longer acceptable – narratives of “before”. 
 
(About the Author: This article has been contributed by Sharad Mehrotra, chief executive officer, Telenor (India) Communications) 
 
(Image Credits: Flickr)

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