The collaboration will produce analysis to help decision-makers assess opportunities for investment, including in the least developed countries

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London May 8, 2019

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Earth Security Partnerships (ESP) and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) today launched a strategic partnership to boost the quality of information available to global decision-makers regarding investments that will advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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ESP is the non-profit arm of Earth Security Group, a London-based global advisory firm that helps some of the world’s largest companies and investors to advance social and environmental impacts on a global scale. UNCDF is a UN aid agency committed to making finance work for the poor in the world’s poorest countries.

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The goal of the partnership is to leverage the core competencies of both organisations – the country-level development and impact investment experience of UNCDF, and ESP’s analysis and impact intelligence capabilities – to drive greater flows of investment capital to developing countries, including the 47 LDCs, in support of the SDG agenda.

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Private capital is necessary to achieve sustainable development by 2030, particularly in the LDCs. The persisting challenge is that in the developing countries where development needs are greatest, the flows of finance are the scarcest. UNCDF and ESP recognise that the SDGs represent an opportunity for businesses and investors that are looking to integrate sustainable development into their decision-making, but are struggling to find high-quality, data-based, actionable analysis about where and how to invest in order to deliver acceptable risk-adjusted returns on investment.

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This new strategic partnership will address both of these challenges by analysing strategic investment scenarios in developing countries. It will highlight opportunities for promising SDG-positive investments, presented in an annual impact intelligence report. UNCDF and ESP will collaborate on providing this critical information to decision-makers, including institutional investors, development finance actors, corporations, and more.

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“Earth Security Partnerships is a natural partner for UNCDF,” according to Judith Karl, Executive Secretary of UNCDF. “One of the key challenges we hear from our private sector partners is that investing in developing countries, particularly LDCs, is too risky given their lack of access to reliable, rigorous data profiling impact drivers for country investments. ESP’s annual reports will help to fill this gap by providing investment decision-makers the information they need. We are glad that UNCDF can contribute our expertise on issues including blended finance, deal structuring, legislative change, and economic transformation in LDCs to deepen the report’s focus on these critical countries.”

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“We are thrilled to be partnering with UNCDF, an agency that is making a difference to the quality and quantity of impact investments flowing to developing countries,” said Alejandro Litovsky, Founder and CEO of Earth Security. “The collaboration of UNCDF and Earth Security Partnerships is a step-change in the availability of impact intelligence for global investors. This will enable the private sector to make a more effective use of capital and contribute to the inclusive growth of the LCDs.”