The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Poorer nations face $4 trillion sustainable development investment gap: UNCTAD
A lack of investment in less wealthy nations is a major obstacle to sustainable development, the UN’s trade and development body, UNCTAD, said on Wednesday.
Presenting the latest global trends in foreign direct investment, UNCTAD’s Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan said that developing countries faced a $4 trillion gap in investments in a number of sectors related to sustainable development, and that investments in the clean energy transition accounted for about half of this gap.
Ms. Grynspan reported that while investment in renewable energy has nearly tripled since the adoption of the Paris Agreement almost eight years ago, “we know that it's going to the developed countries and to the emerging economies”, and poorer states have largely been left out.
She said that more than 30 developing countries have not registered a single international investment in utility-size renewable energy generation since the landmark climate change treaty was adopted in 2015.
The UN official also stressed how much the global South needed two key agreements - the Black Sea Initiative for the exports of grain from Ukraine to global markets and the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Russian Federation and the UN to foster the exports of Russian food and fertilizers - to “continue bringing prices down” and stabilizing food and fertilizer markets around the world.
Launched in July 2022 in Istanbul, the Black Sea Initiative is up for renewal later this month.
UNCTAD also called for a series of policies and financing mechanisms to be put in place to help developing countries attract investment. Ms. Grynspan said that multilateral development banks can help scale up international investment by partnering with governments and the private sector – a measure that can reduce the spread on borrowing costs for energy investment projects in developing countries by up to 40 per cent.
The UNCTAD chief also insisted that investment played a “huge part” in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals which, she said, were “too big to fail”, calling them “the only game in town” whose success depended on collective action and global solidarity.
-ends-
TRT: 2’12”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH, NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATE SHOT: 5 July 2023
FORMAT: HYBRID PRESS BRIEFING
LOCATION: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior wide shot: UN flag alley UN Geneva.
- Cutaway: wide shot, speakers behind podium at the press conference, UN Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General, UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD): “What are the sectors on SDG investment that have really showed a strong performance? Notably renewable energy. But we know that it's going to the developed countries and to the emerging economies. The rest of the countries are not really showing that performance.”
- Cutaway: medium lateral shot, attendees at the press conference, UN Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General, UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD): “Developing countries face an investment gap of $2.2 trillion annually for the energy transition. This is more or less half of the funding gap for the Sustainable Development Goals. We have talked about a $4 trillion gap in investments for the Sustainable Development Goals.”
- Cutaway: wide shot, speakers behind podium, attendees at the press conference, UN Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General, UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD): “The Black Sea Initiative for the exports of grain from Ukraine to global markets and the MoU [Memorandum of Understanding] with the Russian Federation is signed between the Russian Federation and the UN to foster the unimpeded exports of food and fertilizers from the Russian Federation, also to global markets. And we need both to continue bringing prices down and have stable markets of food in fertilizers in the world.”
- Cutaway: medium lateral shot, attendees at the press conference, UN Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General, UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD): “If we combine international multilateral development banks, governments and private sector, that can reduce the spread on borrowing costs for energy investment projects by up to 40 per cent.”
- Various cutaways of speakers and journalists at the press conference, UN Geneva.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , IFRC
Six weeks after Nepal’s deadly flooding disaster, communities are still struggling to rebuild their lives, but they will need sustained help as global warming increases the risk of another Himalayan catastrophe, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.
1
1
1
Statements , Press Conferences | OHCHR
1
1
1
Press Conferences | UNHCR , UNICEF , IFRC , OHCHR , UN WOMEN , IOM , OCHA , WHO
UNHCR – ExCom Meeting, UNICEF – Nepal Recovery, IFRC – Flash Floods, WHO – Mental Health, IOM – South Sudan Floods, OCHA – DRC Humanitarian aid, UNHCR – Sahel Displacement, UNICEF – Yemen Update, IOM – Gaza Shelter, UN Women – Gaza Women, OHCHR – Arrests and detentions of Syrians by Israeli force
2
1
2
Press Conferences | UNCTAD
Presentation of the Trade and Developement Report 2026
Embargoed until 9 October 2026 at 11 a.m. (Geneva Time)
UNCTAD: UNCTAD’s flagship report finds that governments increasingly use industrial, trade, financial and technology policies to pursue economic and national security objectives. Market access and the ability to move into higher-value activities now depend more heavily on technology, finance and geopolitics.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | UPU
Release of the State of the Postal Sector Report 2026
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
In suspected Russia plague death, testing and monitoring underway – WHO
The death of a lab worker in Russia’s Siberia region has sparked concerns about plague being the cause, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday, adding that it was following the situation closely.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | IOM , ITU , UNECE , UNICEF , WHO , WMO
UNICEF: Ebola, DRC - children orphans or separating them from parents and caregivers; IOM: Humanitarian needs in Djibouti amid arrivals from Yemen and increased migrant movements; WHO: Darfur, scale of health needs far exceeds available resources; WMO co-sponsored Global Heat Forum, Bangkok, monthly Global Seasonal Climate Update; UNECE: UN Forum of Mayors; ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2026; WHO: child and adolescent obesity guidelines and new global roadmap to tackle pregnancy hypertension, a leading cause of maternal mortality
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday provided and oral update to the 63rd session of the Human rights Council on Ukraine.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday provided and oral update to the 63rd session of the Human rights Council on the human rights situation in Haiti.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Repeated delays in bringing lifesaving medicines, prosthetics and more from Israel into Gaza risk having devastating consequences on Palestinians who urgently need them in the wartorn enclave, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. “A truck full of non-priority supplies or the right supplies arriving too late, doesn't save lives. That's the question that actually matters," said Dr Reinhilde Van De Weerdt, WHO Representative in the OPT.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | OCHA , UN WOMEN , UNHCR , WFP , WHO , WTO , UNEP
OCHA – $160M CERF allocation to 12 underfunded crises; UNHCR – 5.8M refugee children remain out of school amid funding cuts; UN Women – Middle East escalation and food security among women/girls; WHO – Gaza supplies and overall situation; WFP – Yemen food insecurity and impact on global hunger ; UNEP - First International Conference of the Global Framework on Chemicals in Geneva | 16-20 November 2026
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
DRC: Early access to care and oxygen decisive for Ebola patients’ survival – WHO
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), health workers fighting the country’s largest-ever Ebola outbreak are struggling to overcome critical challenges to patient care, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday.