"Business and the Sustainable Development Goals: Mind the Gap – Challenges for Implementation", September 2015

Throughout the consultation and negotiation process leading to the adoption of the SDGs, the private sector has been highlighted as a partner with the potential to contribute in multiple ways to development objectives... The financing needs of the SDGs are enormous and public finance may not be sufficient, but private capital will not offer a panacea...Target-setting without setting the principles on how to reach them can lead to a blind pursuit of targets without regard to consequences. Money will continue to flow to safer areas where returns are assured, rather than to locations where the need is greatest... A shared set of SDG Partnership Principles is needed as part of the SDG implementation process to clarify what constitutes compliance with the SDGs and therefore when it is appropriate to use public funds.