The 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) will focus on the achievements and shortfalls of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and reflect on means and ways to accelerate progress in areas such as climate finance and gender equality. A Summit of the Future will promote multilateral cooperation on issues like artificial intelligence, space governance, and digital transformation.
The anticipated new Pact for the Future, will essentially focus on governance frameworks for cyberspace, AI, and the ethical use of technology.
It is also expected that UNGA will lay down the groundwork for the 4th Conference of Finance for Development. For Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), such topics are particularly of interest as they are intrinsically related to their missions and define their future.
The magnitude of current challenges facing Africa has defined the spectrum of the development finance needed to address them in a timely and effective manner. For instance, while Africas contribution to global green gas emissions is only 3%, the continent is losing $7bn to $15bn annually due to climate change, a figure expected to rise to $50bn per year by 2030.
A recent report by the World Meteorology Organisation underscored that on average, African countries are losing 2% to 5% of GDP and many are diverting up to 9% of their budgets to respond to climate extremes.
