BCF at Financing for Sustainable Development Conference in Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia— Blue Chip Foundation’s Jennifer Gross participated in the Financing for  Sustainable Development Conference in Addis Ababa from July, where world leaders agreed on an economic framework to support the sustainable development agenda.

 
“At the Addis Financing for Development summit, a number of developing countries and civil society organizations demanded an intergovernmental UN-based tax body. Unfortunately, this effort was blocked by a number of OECD governments” said Gross. “This idea really should be revisited as we need a global approach to taxation. Corporate tax reforms could eliminate tax evasion, which is costing the global economy more than $600 billion annually. To achieve the reforms, we need to shift the power to the U.N. Tax Commission and expand it.”

If wealthy countries would honor commitments they each made in 1970 to provide 0.7 percent of their GDPs for Official Development Assistance, all of the sustainable development goals would have adequate funding.

  The problem: None are doing so.

“This could not only finance the education gap, but could cover what is needed for all the   SDGs  ,” says Gross. “The Education Commission lets the wealthy countries off the hook, asking only for 0.5 percent, and this isn’t reached until 2030. The problem is that we need it now. The population boom that is going to happen poverty stricken areas is overwhelming, and if we don’t have systems in place to meet the growing needs of these areas, the results will be catastrophic.”

Many critics of the agreement say nothing will change.

“It was a painful moment to see the developed countries celebrating the fact that nothing will change,” said Tove Maria Ryding, policy and advocacy manager for tax justice at the European Network on Debt and Development. “This sets a terrible precedent for the post-2015 and climate negotiations.” Ryding had advocated for and championed proposals for a new global tax body that would pick up the slack by eliminating tax evasion.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that the framework was progress.

“This agreement is a critical step forward in building a sustainable future for all. It provides a global framework for financing sustainable development. The results here in Addis Ababa give us the foundation of a revitalized global partnership for sustainable development that will
leave no one behind,” the Secretary General said.

Amina J. Mohammed, special adviser to the UN Secretary General, says that the accord “changed the equation on development” and that there are still ways to work toward a more equitable agreement.

“Do we have enough doors open on every issue that we wanted? I think we do. Are they wide enough? No. We still have to fight the good fight, that’s the way the world works,” said Mohammed.