Thanks to the kind invitation from Dr. Qing Xu, the SDG Finance Specialist of UNDP China, the IIGF team had pleasure participating in a high-level bilateral discussion with UNDP China held in UNDP Beijing office on March 17th, 2021. During the meeting, Professor Wang Yao, Director of the IIGF, and Beate Trankmann, UNDP Resident Representative in China, exchanged their thoughts about strategies that would align public and private finance with the sustainable development goals in China.

The two parties reached a consensus regarding future cooperation and decided to formalize a long-term partnership in SDG-enabled efforts, especially in SDG finance.

In 2020, with IIGF’s support in leading a technical working group, UNDP launched The Technical Report on SDG Finance Taxonomy to help investors recognize SDG-aligned projects. Following the successful cooperation between both organizations, IIGF and UNDP agreed to develop more in-depth knowledge products and capacity-building activities to further promote market application and policy adoption. Potential next steps include but are not limited to SDG finance-themed feasibility studies, policy dialogues, and training. We welcome synergies from a broader range of stakeholders, including central and local governments, financial institutes, third-party verifiers, and think-tanks.