Safaricom joins the UN to increase sustainable development

30 influential corporate leaders set to work together across two years to free up trillions of dollars in the private sector financing sustainable development.

The group of influencers named the Global Investors for Sustainable Development (GISD) Alliance has been coverned by Secretary-General António Guterres.

“We face widening inequality, increased devastation from conflicts and disasters and a rapidly warming Earth. These leaders have seized our sense of urgency, recognizing that our pace must be at a run, not a crawl,” Guterres said. “They are committing to cooperate across borders, across financial sectors and even with their competitors, because it is both ethical and good business sense to invest in sustainable development for all people on a healthy planet.”

During the recent UN General Assembly urgent attention for increased governement spending on crucial sectors such as health, education, infrastructure and cliamte change was highlighted.

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“Given the current state of the world in terms of growing inequalities; rising carbon emissions; growing global hunger; rising unemployment and social discontent, business leaders must play a larger role in ensuring their companies take the lead in societal transformation through business processes and services and not just through philanthropy. We are honored to be joining this alliance that will help scale up investment for sustainable development”, said Michael Joseph, CEO, Safaricom.

Over the next two years, the alliance aims to use their expertise, influence and business to stimulate long term investment in development and speed up progress towards achieving the SDGs, this will include:

• Delivering solutions for long-term finance and investment in sustainable development

• Generate additional resources for countries and sectors most in need

• Increase the positive impact of business activities

• Align business practices with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Members of the allinace include: Allianz SE, APG, Aviva Banco Santander, Bancolombia, Bank of America, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), CIMB, Citigroup, Consejo Mexicano de Negocios, Les Eaux Minérales d’Oulmès, Emirates Environmental Group, Enel S.p.A, First State Super, Government Pension Investment Fund, ICBC, Infosys, Investec Group, Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Nuveen, Pal Pensions, PIMCO, Safaricom, Sintesa Group, Standard Chartered, SulAmerica, Swedish Investors for Sustainable Development, TDC Group A/S and UBS Group AG.

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