Climate finance initiatives and nature-based solutions are among the investment opportunity areas (IOAs) in the Philippines in which both international and domestic investors aiming to step up contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in the country can invest in.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the Philippines said the country’s SDG Investment Map, a UNDP market intelligence tool, identified 12 IOAs which may have significant potential to advance the SDGs and are aligned with the government policies and sustainable national development needs of the country.
These IOAs include affordable housing infrastructure development, agricultural cold storage facilities, bulk water supply infrastructure for underserved areas, digitizing healthcare payments, effective infrastructure for solid waste management, and hydropower infrastructure.
Others include affordable and resilient housing infrastructure, affordable education loans, insurance solutions for smallholder farmers, low-cost internet services, modular specialized health care facilities, and solar power infrastructure for underserved areas.
Investing in hydropower infrastructure or solar power infrastructure for underserved areas is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while improving air quality, energy affordability and creating green jobs through hydropower or solar power investments.
The estimated markets of these investment themes range from USD100 million to USD1 billion.
UNDP Philippines Resident Representative Dr. Selva Ramachandran said “As interest grows among private sector actors to align investment activity with the SDGs, there is a demonstrated call for unifying standards, tools, and services that can be relied upon by investors to support a process of targeting, measuring, and achieving deve-lopment outcomes.”
UNDP Philippines co-launched the initial outputs of the Philippine SDG Investor Map with some of the country’s biggest private sector organizations – Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), Philippine Business for Social Progress, and Makati Business Club – and with generous support from the government of Canada through the UNDP Climate Finance PH for Nature-Based Solutions Project.
During a panel discussion, PCCI Chair of SDG Committee Joel Tugade said the investment opportunities presented by the SDG Investor Map came in a “very timely and relevant manner” for businesses as many of them are becoming more aware and are starting to align their business plans with SDG goals.
UNDP Philippines produced the country’s SDG Investor Map in partnership with the SDG Impact and the Center for Impact Investing and Practices, an entity established by Temasek Trust, and with support of the recently concluded Joint Programme on Integrated National Financing Framework of the United Nations.
CIIP Director Koh Lin-Net said the Philippines SDG Investor Map is the sixth to be launched in Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and joins the series of investor maps released for Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia. – Press release
