What are the UN SDGs?

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a collection of 17 global goals set by the UN General Assembly in 2015. The SDGs are a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. The SDGs are part of Resolution 70/1 of the UNGA titled “Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” now referred to as the “2030 Agenda”.

What are the UN SDGs designed to do?

The SDGs are designed to address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, sustainability, and peace and justice. They represent a call to action for governments, civil society, international organizations, and the private sector to align their activities with the social, environmental and economic changes needed to ensure the continued viability of our planet and the dignity of societies and individuals.

Cornerstone UN SDG Series: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Investing to Align with SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Investment in infrastructure and innovation are crucial drivers of economic growth and development, and are key to finding lasting solutions to both economic and environmental challenges. Promoting sustainable industries and investing in scientific research and innovation are all important ways to facilitate sustainable development. More than 4 billion people still do not have access to the Internet, and 90% are from the developing world. Bridging this digital divide is crucial to ensuring equal access to information and knowledge, as well as fostering innovation and entrepreneurship.1

SDG 9 is further refined by targets that can be more easily translated into actions. These targets highlight the interconnected nature of the goals. For example, strategies to support inclusive industrialization and innovation also promote progress toward SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and SDG 8 (Decent Work & Economic Growth). Below are a series of synergies that can come from providing access to products, services and systems that work to drive Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.

Recent research points to a strong connection between openness to different cultures and ideas, and the ability of a place to adapt to economic changes and grow.2,3 Currently, however, not all are equally able to innovate. Women have more difficulty acquiring external business financing than men, and only received 2% of all venture capital in the US in 2017.4,5 Disparities in financing opportunities also extend into microfinance, where evidence has emerged of discrimination against disabled micro-entrepreneurs.6 Fostering inclusive growth depends on removing these biases and connecting all with opportunities to contribute to innovation.

Sophisticated financial services will provide smooth cash flows and enable individuals and businesses to accumulate assets while making productive investments. Small businesses re-quire financing to grow, and currently there is a lack of financial institutions that can support small to medium-sized enterprises through traditional loans or a line of credit.7 As additional financing for SMEs is more available, national productivity and social welfare can be improved as there is additional access to employment and resources. Technology can be used not only to facilitate payment transfers but also to access banking services remotely, making financial services available imore broadly.8

In the last decade the number of people that are connected to the internet has tripled. This still leaves 60% of people lacking internet access globally. Mobile and wireless coverage are more available than household internet access, and the cost of data prohibits access for many.9 Communication technologies play a role in almost all industries including health, education, agriculture, finance, transportation, energy, and commerce. With the advancements in infrastructure and innovation in technologies, telecommunication services will be available at a lower cost and higher speeds.10

Fair Treatment and Equal Opportunity

Financial Services

Telecommunication Systems

Investing to achieve industry, innovation,

and infrastructure

By providing a brief overview of each of the UN SDGs, Cornerstone Capital Group seeks to help investors understand how incorporating SDG alignment into their investment decisions can contribute to progress. Because the SDGs were not created specifically with investors in mind, Cornerstone effectively “translates” them into investment opportunities by focusing on the concept of access: the ability of individuals and societies to achieve desired social, economic and environmental outcomes. We believe that investing in products, services and systems that increase access is key to driving progress toward the SDGs. At Cornerstone, we believe that invest-ments can achieve competitive financial performance and positive societal impact – performance that sacrifices nothing, except indifference.

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Access to affordable, sustainable modern energy encompasses the ability to improve living conditions through lighting, education, and fresh water. Available forms of energy in many places are not only time-consuming to gather and inefficient, but also unhealthy and unsafe. A lack of developed infrastructure globally shows that approximately 20% of people live without electricity, and 50% of all households and 90% of rural households use solid fuels for cooking and heating. These include unprocessed biomass, coal, or charcoal.11 The danger from indoor use of these materials lies in the chemicals produced when burning in confined areas; solid fuels in households accounted for 2.2 million deaths in 2005.12 Access to electricity and biomass cookstoves can boost economic development and reduce poverty and hunger, improving conditions for the poorest segments of society. Improvements lead to greater outputs in agriculture, commerce, and industry with greater more efficient production. 13

Worldwide, three out of four jobs are water dependent. Investment in water infrastructure not only promotes health initiatives and job creation in developing areas but also stimulates advancement toward green economies.14 In agrarian communities where agriculture supports not only the economy but also acts as the main food source, access is critical to sustainable growth. Infrastructure that supports maintenance, reduction, reduction, recycling, and reuse of water must be put in place, updated and supported.15 Sound water management involves supply, infrastructure, and wastewater treatment.

With the modernization of societies globally, infrastructure and industry need to be de-signed in a way that reduces contributions to climate change. Since the industrial revolution, there has been an unsustainable rapid increase in carbon dioxide emissions causing global warming.16 Industries need to focus on reducing waste and becoming more sustainable with environmentally practical process and technologies.17 Investment into energy efficiency and an increase in investment in low-carbon initiatives through innovation across industries will support clean air practices.18 In addition to providing clear health benefits, clean air has also been linked to broader economic benefits as it results in more productive workforces and healthier populations who save on avoided medical expenses.19

Transportation and infrastructure development support economic growth through industries. Additional infrastructure makes the transportation of goods easier, faster and less expensive. Advanced transportation infrastructure supports complex supply chains globally, nationally and regionally with the movement of goods and people. Establishing trade routes and partners across these categories links economic functions in the distribution of goods from producer to consumer. Progress in developing advanced infrastructure supports economic growth as more jobs are accessible to those who would otherwise not have access.20

(1) https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/goal-9-industry-innovation-and-infrastructure.html (2) https://www.citylab.com/life/2011/12/diversity-leads-to-economic-growth/687/ (3) https://images.forbes.com/forbesinsights/StudyPDFs/Innovation_Through_Diversity.pdf (4) http://fortune.com/2018/01/31/female-founders-venture-capital-2017/ (5) International Finance Corporate (2013f) ‘International Finance Corporation Enterprise Finance Gap Database’. (6) Discrimination by Microcredit Officers: Theory and Evidence on Disability in Uganda https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1722122 (7) https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/21431/WorldBank_SDGAtlas_09_industry_innovation_infrastructure.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. (8) https://stats.unctad.org/Dgff2016/prosperity/goal9/target_9_3.html (9) https://www.2030vision.com/global-goals/industry-innovation-and-infrastructure (10) https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Conferences/WTDC/WTDC17/Documents/declaration/ba_declaration_e.pdf (11) https://www.who.int/quantifying_ehimpacts/publications/9241591358/en/ (12) http://www.iiasa.ac.at/web/home/research/researchPrograms/Energy/IIASA-GEF-UNIDO_Access-to-Modern-Energy_2013-05-27.pdf (13) https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/17462PB1.pdf. (14) http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/water/wwap/wwdr/2016-water-and-jobs/ (15) www.unwater.org/app/uploads/2016/08/Water-and-Sanitation-Interlinkages.pdf. (16) https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions. (17) https://www.iberdrola.com/top-stories/iberdrola-shares-with-you/industry-innovation-and-infrastructure. (18) https://www.iberdrola.com/top-stories/iberdrola-shares-with-you/climate-action. (19) https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/benefits-and-costs-clean-air-act-1990-2020-second-prospective-study. (20) https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/8656Analysis%20of%20transport%20relevance%20of%20SDGs.pdf.Cornerstone Capital Group is a registered investment advisor. The information in this document is intended to be general in nature and is not intended as investment advice. The views expressed are as of July 2019 and are subject to change at any time based on market or other conditions. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. © Cornerstone Capital Inc. 2019.

Affordable, Sustainable and Modern Energy

Clean Water including Sanitation and Hygiene

Clean Air

Safe, Affordable and Sustainable Transportation

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