Overview

• The annual financing gap for achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals has risen to around $4 trillion according to conference estimates, up from $2.5 trillion at their 2015 launch.
• The draft agreement proposes tripling the World Bank’s lending capacity and boosting the Global South’s voting power at the IMF and World Bank.
• Delegates have committed to tackle illicit financial flows and tax evasion through tougher measures and a new UN framework convention on international tax cooperation.
• Reports from Misereor and erlassjahr.de show 47 countries now spend at least 15 percent of their revenue on debt servicing, constraining investments in poverty reduction and social security.
• The United States has formally withdrawn support for the SDGs and the Sevilla draft agreement, casting uncertainty over its universal adoption and follow-up implementation.