The conference will address new and emerging issues and the urgent need to fully implement the Sustainable Development Goals and support the reform of the international financial architecture.
From 30 June to 3 July 2025 Seville will host the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4). The aim of the conference is to ‘boost policy implementation and mobilise financial resources by the international community to meet the commitments of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals at the global level’.
The conference brings together governments, financial institutions, the private sector and civil society. Previous editions were held in Monterrey (2002), Doha (2008) and Addis Ababa (2015). Monterrey was the first summit-level meeting sponsored by the United Nations to address key financial and related issues linked to global development. The summit ended with the Monterrey Consensus that underlined the importance of increasing both official and private financial flows and promoted international cooperation to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
It also focused on the need to improve governance and transparency in the use of financial resources, recognising that sustainable development requires a multilateral and inclusive approach. The Doha Summit reaffirmed the Monterrey Consensus and in the final Declaration it stated the importance of coordinated and coherent action to formulate national development strategies that adequately reflect the interests of developing countries. It also committed to the reform of all international economic institutions and policy-making bodies to ensure adequate representation of the least developed countries. The third summit ended with the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, which committed to a comprehensive framework for mobilising the financial resources and policies needed to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Among the stated aims were the mobilisation of domestic resources, the reduction of tax evasion and illicit financial flows, the commitment of developed countries to meet the official development assistance target (0.7%) and the promotion of South-South cooperation.
FfD4, in addition to assessing progress on the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus, the Doha Declaration and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, will face the challenge of implementing the policies and mobilising the necessary resources at the scale and speed needed to achieve the SDGs and the Paris Agreement goals. The financing gap to achieve the SDGs in impoverished countries is estimated to be $2.5 to $3 trillion per year (UNCTAD World Investment Report, 2014). The challenge is daunting. It requires addressing the distortions caused by uneven economic growth, with unsustainable patterns, which can undermine the need to build inclusive development; and the devastating effects of conflict and climate change, which we know exacerbate inequalities and hinder progress for the most vulnerable.
The success of the Seville FfD4 depends on a coordinated and sustained commitment by countries to implement coherent policies and provide resources to promote sustainable investments, not to mention the need to foster and strengthen partnerships between different actors, as well as to establish better accountability. At Doha, countries committed to reforming international economic institutions and regulatory bodies. Now it is time to reform the international financial architecture, including its governance, address the debt challenge, and improve taxation. Civil society organisations have a vital role to play in this reform and must be part of it as they can advocate for fairer policies, as well as ensure accountability and promote transparency.
In the field of international development cooperation, the Seville summit must recognise and consolidate the essential role of ODA as a counter-cyclical financing mechanism, while acknowledging the trillions in undisbursed aid commitments, which have generated a debt to the Global South of some 7.2 trillion dollars. In Addis Ababa, countries ratified the commitment to allocate 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI) to Official Development Assistance (ODA); now it is time to go a step further and set 0.7% as a minimum and not a target. This is in addition to ensuring that ODA is of quality, which implies that the funds are used efficiently, transparently and in projects that really generate impact, such as global health challenges, gender equality or climate change.
Pending the outcome of COP29 and the possibility of new targets on climate finance being agreed, Seville must commit to mobilising additional resources to support impoverished countries in their green transition in a fair manner. Let us not forget that poor countries bear a disproportionate burden of the consequences of climate change. These countries, which often contribute the least to global greenhouse gas emissions, are the most vulnerable to extreme weather events, sea level rise and alterations in weather patterns, severely affecting their economies and the health of their populations. Lack of resources to adapt to and mitigate these impacts would further aggravate the situation.
The FfD4 outcome document must contain a good narrative that justifies why these and other measures are important and why it is important to do so now. There is undoubtedly an area of responsibility for states towards the 2030 Agenda, an Agenda that challenges and engages them collectively to explore the possibility of bringing hitherto untapped public resources and innovative mechanisms to the surface.