A rescue plan for the world's sustainable development

This month, a meeting of leaders will be held in Seville with a rescue mission: to improve the way the world invests in sustainable development .

The stakes could not be higher: 10 years after the Sustainable Development Goals were adopted and many global commitments to finance them were made, two-thirds of the targets are far from being achieved . And the world is falling short: each year, more than $4 trillion in resources are missing from developing countries to make these commitments a reality by 2030.

An ambitious, globally-backed plan to invest in the Sustainable Development Goals must be adopted.

At the same time, the global economy is slowing, trade tensions are rising, development aid budgets are shrinking , military spending is soaring, and international cooperation is coming under unprecedented pressure.

The global development crisis is not something abstract. It is measured in families going to bed hungry, unvaccinated children, girls forced to drop out of school, and entire communities deprived of basic services.

We must change course. And that change begins at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in Seville, where an ambitious, globally supported plan for investing in the Sustainable Development Goals must be adopted.

This plan must encompass three essential elements: First, the Seville Conference must help ensure that resources flow more quickly to the countries that need them most. Quickly.

Countries must take the lead and mobilize domestic resources, improving revenue collection and combating tax evasion, money laundering, and illicit financial flows through international cooperation. This would provide much-needed resources to prioritize spending in areas of greatest impact, such as education, healthcare, employment, social protection, food security, and renewable energy.

At the same time, national, regional, and multilateral development banks must join forces to finance large-scale investments.

To support this effort, the lending capacity of these banks must be tripled, so that developing countries can more easily access capital on affordable terms and with longer maturities.

This increased access should include the rechanneling of unconditional reserve assets—or special drawing rights—to developing countries, preferably through multilateral development banks to maximize their impact.

Private investment is also essential. Resources can be unlocked by facilitating private finance support for bankable development projects and promoting solutions that mitigate currency risk and combine public and private finance more effectively. Throughout the process, donors must deliver on their development promises.

Second, we must fix the global debt system . It is unfair and broken. The current lending system is unsustainable, and developing countries have little trust in it, which is easy to understand. Debt service is a steamroller that destroys development gains, at a rate of more than $1.4 trillion a year. Many governments are forced to spend more on debt repayment than on essential services like health and education combined.

The Seville Conference should produce concrete measures to reduce borrowing costs, facilitate timely debt restructuring for countries facing unsustainable debt burdens, and, above all, prevent debt crises.

The Seville meeting isn't about charity. It's about justice and building a future where countries can move forward.

Ahead of the Conference, various countries have put forward proposals to alleviate the debt burden of developing countries, including: making it easier to pause debt service in emergency situations; creating a single debt registry to promote transparency; and improving how the IMF, the World Bank, and credit rating agencies assess risk in developing countries.

Finally, the Seville Conference should serve to make the voice of developing countries heard and their influence felt in the international financial system, so that it may better respond to their needs.

International financial institutions must reform their governance structures to amplify the voice and enhance the participation of developing countries in the management of the institutions on which they depend.

The world also needs a fairer global tax system, shaped by all governments, not just the richest and most powerful. The creation of a "borrowers' club" for countries to coordinate their approaches and learn from each other is another encouraging step in combating power imbalances.

The Seville meeting is not about charity. It is about justice and building a future where countries can move forward, build, trade, and prosper together. In an increasingly interconnected world, a future of haves and have-nots leads us to even greater global insecurity that will continue to hinder progress for all.

Through new global commitments and action, the Seville Conference can serve as an impetus to restore hope in international cooperation and make sustainable development a reality for people and the planet.

In Seville, leaders must join forces to make this rescue mission a success.