Farm mechanization

China

First Phase of China SDG Investor Map Launches

Photo by Shutterstock

SDG Impact is proud to announce that the first phase of its China SDG Investor Map has now launched. It is the 16th SDG Investor Map with 11 identified investment themes across Food & Beverage and Healthcare sectors, which are the two sectors where policy priorities for the government and national development needs of the country meet.

The SDG Investor Maps help private investors identify investment themes and business models that have significant potential to advance the SDGs.

The Food & Beverage sector was pinpointed in the first phase of China's map because of the urgent development need and China's policy priorities. According to China’s Progress Report on Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2019), China’s per capita natural resources for agriculture is below world averages. Its arable land and freshwater resources per person are only two-fifths and a quarter of the world averages respectively. The agriculture sector accounts for 25% of China’s total employment by the end of 2019. Although China’s agriculture shares in GDP declined sharply over time, it is still an important force for the growth of other sectors. In 2017, Rural Vitalization Campaign came out as one of the highlights of the 19th CPC National Congress. Prioritizing the development of agriculture and rural areas is also reiterated in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025). In addition, the pandemic has brought food security to policy focus once again.

The other sector the map focused on in 2020 was Healthcare Delivery. This sector was put at the center of policy concern since China was one of the world's first countries confronted with Covid-19 challenges. It's pointed out from China’s Progress Report on Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2019) that, China’s health sector currently still faces many challenges, including the weak capacity of grass-roots service providers, imbalanced development, and resources distribution between rural and urban areas in the health sector and the accelerated aging trend, etc. As highlighted in the State Council's Plan of 2030 Healthy China, improving healthcare is the premise of building a moderately prosperous society. The country is devoted to further deepening the reform of the healthcare system by developing a hierarchical triage and referral system, a modern hospital management system, improving national drug policy, and strengthening comprehensive regulation.

In 2021, UNDP China Office has kicked off the second phase of the SDG Investor Maps with a focus on Infrastructure and Renewable & Alternative Energy which is a policy priority and significant development need in light of China's carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals. We expect to launch the research result by the end of 2021 or early in 2022.

Click here to explore the investment themes and business models our China SDG Investor Map has identified.

Country

China

Source
UNDP