The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the world’s blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, and peace and justice. These goals and the targets therein integrate economic, social and environmental aspects. They are also deeply interconnected: a lack of progress on one goal hinders progress on others. On the ground in 170 countries, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) assists the UN Resident Coordinator and UN Country Teams to facilitate more integrated analyses, planning and implementation -- to accelerate progress towards achieving the SDGs. A key part of this role is to actively engage with enterprises and investors and help them to fully integrate the SDGs into their business and investment decision making -- and ultimately to drive more capital to where it is needed most.

In every corner of the globe, the private sector is increasingly seeking new opportunities to make a positive impact – and to make meaningful contributions towards the achievement of the SDGs.
However, they are lacking concrete guidance on how to translate intent to action -- a longstanding missing link. To this end, the new UNDP SDG Impact Standards for private equity funds are a practical contribution to provide a common language and a clear system to fully integrate the SDGs into all business and investment decision making processes.
The standards emanate from the important work being undertaken by SDG Impact -- a groundbreaking UNDP initiative to empower investors and businesses with the clarity, insights, and tools requiredto support and authenticate their contributions to achieving the SDGs. We are pleased to be supported in our SDG Impact endeavours by a Steering Group of global leaders.

The Standards enter a rapidly changing context. COVID 19 and systemic risks associated with climate change affect all sectors. These factors underscore the urgency for action and inform renewed aspiration in the business, finance and investment community to commit to sustainable development and the SDGs. The SDG timeline and how much we still need to achieve by 2030 reinforces why we need these Standards now.
The Standards are for private equity, debt and venture capital fund managers (Private Equity Fund Managers) who want to make a positive contribution to sustainable development and achieving the SDGs through one or more of their Funds. They provide a roadmap and practical guidance to translate that intent to action.

The Standards are provided as a public good. They are voluntary and freely available for all to use as best practice standards and a self-assessment tool. They are the first set to be released in what will be a harmonized suite of Standards for different actors across the capital and investment spectrum.

They are new and pioneering. Several stages of consultation, including two public consultations, provided critical practitioner and expert feedback. More lessons will come from fund managers putting them into practice, and these lessons will be reflected in future version releases.
How the Standards fit with existing principles, frameworks and tools The Standards are grounded in high level principles of practice and provide the necessary context for integrating other tools and frameworks into decision making

About SDG Impact
SDG Impact is a global UNDP initiative, catalyzing investment to achieve the SDGs by 2030:
• SDG Impact Management: Providing a means to better decisions that drive investment capital to where it is needed, comprising SDG Impact Standards, an SDG Impact Seal and impact management education.
• SDG Impact Intelligence: Producing data and insights needed for increasing financial flows to the SDGs, offering SDG investor maps of investable business models via a searchable desktop platform.
• SDG Impact Facilitation: Fostering matchmaking and collaboration to realize SDG investment opportunities, focusing on investor and policy dialogue drawing on the UN presence in over 170 countries, deep sustainable development expertise and relationships with governments and other influencers.