UBS's has published a follow up to our 2017 white paper "Mobilizing private wealth for public good", where we unveiled a blueprint for channeling private wealth towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). The world is falling well short of raising the USD 5 - 7trn in annual investment needed to achieve the UN's 17 different SDGs. As the world's largest wealth manager, we believe we are in a position to enact real change in closing this gap.

We learned more on how wealth managers can support the UN's goals. The following are our top five learnings from 2017:

  1. Portfolios should consider including Multilateral Development Bank bonds
  2. There is no common convention on what "sustainable investing" means
  3. Financial firms must work together to close the SDG-funding gap
  4. Philanthropy is moving away from simply giving money to more measurable approaches
  5. Firms and social entrepreneurs should work together

Read more about how wealth managers can support the SDGs at UBS