UN calls for sustainable industrial practices

The United Nations, in a new report, has called for sustainable industrial transformation to close the widening development gap between countries, meet climate targets and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, said: “Without the means to invest in sustainable development and transform their energy and food systems, developing countries are falling even further behind. A two-track world of haves and have-nots holds obvious dangers for every country. We urgently need to rebuild global cooperation and find the solutions to our current crises in multilateral action.”

The report warns of a lasting sustainable development divide and calls on the international community to align financing with sustainable development by combining three sets of actions. First, scale up development cooperation and SDG investment. Second, strengthen the international financial architecture. Third, accelerate national sustainable industrial transformations.

The report warns that, at the current pace of progress, the world will not achieve SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure). Accordingly, it emphasises that countries need to strengthen strategic approaches, including through a new generation of sustainable industrial policies and integrated financing frameworks.

“Industrialisation and structural transformation have been historic engines of growth, job creation and technological advancement,” the report noted. It goes on to state that the current revival of industrial policies opens a window of opportunity for countries to pursue sustainable industrial transformations: to build domestic productive capabilities to achieve low-carbon transitions and create decent jobs and gender equality, along with productivity and economic growth.