We are behind where we want to reach in the Sustainable Development Goals, which has been adopted in 2015 as a global action plan until 2030 to fight against the climate crisis, extreme poverty and social inequality. According to the 2022 Sustainable Development Report, there has been no progress for the past two years.
The momentum towards Sustainable Development was first constrained by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this third year of COVID-19, responses to problems that necessitate urgent response, such as the climate crisis, pollution and biodiversity loss, are not enough.
Inequality between countries is also increasing. While developed countries can finance the recovery from the economic crisis created by the pandemic, the situation is not encouraging for poor and vulnerable and developing countries.
In one in every 5 developing countries, by the end of 2023, GDP per capita is predicted to remain below the levels in 2019. Moreover, these predictions have been made without taking the war in Ukraine into consideration. By 2021, an additional 77 million people living in extreme poverty have been added, which have caused a dramatic increase in inequalities.
Developing and poor countries continue to face increasingly high credit costs, they are forced to cut the budgets of their education and health expenses and other SDG investments. This not only prevents their improvement, but also their expectations for medium- and long-term development.
As inequality rises, another significant issues for the SDGs are the escalating geopolitical tensions and the uncertainties. In addition to the regression caused by COVID-19, the war occured in Ukraine this year also creates a global destruction, with its effects on food security and energy markets.
There is an increasing amount of stress in the globe, and current efforts to address it are insufficient.
“Leave no one behind”
The "leave no one behind" motto set for the Sustainable Development Goals becomes even more important especially in this period of crisis.
Is a new financial model possible?
The economic activities that have continued until this day have led to great risks and destruction on all the resources that create life. Practices that perceive humanity as separate – and superior – from nature prevent us to stop greenhouse gas emissions, the degradation of natural habitats, and social inequality.
We see that the sustainable models developed alternatively are insufficient for goals such as preventing climate change and protecting biodiversity.
At this point, it is possible to talk about Regenerative Finance (ReFi). It is a system practice which suggests humans as a part of the ecosystem rather than separate from it, that focuses on the regeneration and protection of all these resources, and which believes that the state of "well-being" for humans is provided by being one with nature.
“You didn’t come into this world. You came out of it, like a wave from the ocean. You are not a stranger here.”― Alan W. Watts