Ascent Partners hosts networking dinner to support the UN’s SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals” in Bangkok yesterday

SDG17 - “Partnerships for the Goals” - emphasises what companies need to get better at: managing diverse networks of partners to accomplish sustainable development.

Ascent Partners was honoured to participate in the just concluded APFSD11 forum and host an informal dinner event for 50 people to help foster the development of partnerships in the race to attain net-zero.

Of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the 17th is the odd one out.? As “Partnerships for the Goals”, it is the goal that helps you get to the other 16.

For most businesses committed to sustainable development,? however, this 17th goal may be the most essential – and challenging – to accomplish.

According to the UN in its 2023 SDG Progress Report, progress has been uneven. Progress has been made in areas such as development aid, the flow of remittances and access to technology.

However, the UN considers that financing for development remains a major challenge, in particular in low-income countries. Not to mention the geopolitical tensions that have made cooperation more difficult, as well as record inflation, rising interest rates and a looming debt burden that many developing countries are grappling with.

The growth and stabilisation of economies often take precedence over the pursuit of SDGs at the national policy level hence negatively affecting the engagement of private companies in SDGs collaborations.

For example, some nations whose economies are dependent on tourism, have adopted trade policy and partnerships which promote tourism for its economic benefits but do not address the related impacts of increased levels of travel and tourism on local efforts to mitigate local climate change.

These imbalances of power can be especially problematic for low-income countries, whose partnership agendas are mostly influenced by developed nations.

For example, despite an unprecedentedly large increase in global trade post-pandemic —$32 trillion in 2022— the share of exports from the least developed countries stagnated, their share of global trade in goods was only 1.1%, an increase of only 0.07 percentage points.

It is vital to protect and continue partnerships to leave no one behind. Only the union of all actors will make it possible to achieve the goals set, which is why SDG 17 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, adopted in September 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda, is so important.

As Simon Mak, CEO of Ascent Partners says “By actively bringing people together, we can make the world a better place!”