SDGs represent almost US$10 trillion of high-impact investment potential

Opportunity2030: The Standard Chartered SDG Investment Map reveals an almost USD10 trillion (USD9.668 trillion) opportunity for private-sector investors across all emerging markets to help achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The study identifies opportunities for investors to contribute to three infrastructure-focused goals between now and 2030: SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation, SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy and SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure across emerging markets.

The USD10 trillion private-sector opportunity represents around 40 per cent of the total funding required to meet specific indicators within the three SDGs – allowing for population growth as well as maintaining current access – with public funds expected to provide the bulk of the investment.

Key findings:

• Providing universal access to power represents the greatest investment opportunity for the private sector in all emerging markets by 2030 (USD4.226 trillion), followed by significant improvements to transport infrastructure (USD3.674 trillion), digital access (USD1.642 trillion) and access to clean water and sanitation (USD125.4 billion).
• Looking more closely at 15 of the world’s fastest-growing economies, the study finds that China and India offer the greatest opportunities (USD2.829 trillion* and USD1.124 trillion respectively).
• Zambia presents a big opportunity to make an impact on SDG 6. With 43 per cent of the population currently lacking access to clean water and sanitation, there is a USD0.7 billion private-sector investment opportunity to help close the gap by 2030.
• To achieve universal access to electricity by 2030 (a key SDG 7 indicator), the greatest private-sector opportunities are found in India (USD701.5 billion), Indonesia (USD147.5 billion) and Bangladesh (USD73.9 billion).
• For SDG 9, which encourages improvement in industry, innovation and infrastructure, China offers investors the greatest opportunities for improving transport infrastructure (USD2.310 trillion) and securing full digital access (USD492.8 billion).
• The next largest investment opportunities for improving transport infrastructure and digital access are in India (USD176.9 billion and USD226.5 billion respectively), Indonesia (USD75.5 billion and USD53.7 billion respectively).

Bill Winters, Group Chief Executive at Standard Chartered, said:

“The UN Sustainable Development Goals are amongst the most ambitious projects humanity has ever attempted. As well as offering our best hope yet of tackling the world’s most serious challenges, they also offer a unique opportunity for the private sector. For the goals to be met, the private sector must play a central role in deploying capital to get projects off the ground. Opportunity2030 provides a map of these opportunities, revealing the sectors and markets where investors can best contribute to the SDGs whilst achieving sustainable returns.

“Currently, not enough capital is reaching the countries that need it the most. With the UN’s 2030 deadline for achieving SDGs just 10 years away, the time to act is now.”

*Please note: China, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam already have universal access to power so are not included in the market-specific private-sector investment opportunity data above. However, with growing populations and economies, these markets will need to continue investing in affordable and clean energy to maintain access in a sustainable way. Maintenance of access in these markets is included in the emerging markets data for the overall and sector total private-sector investment opportunities.

You can download the full Standard Chartered Opportunity2030 report here.