The jointly develped UNEP-University of Oxford Sustainable Budgeting Approach (SBA) is a decision-support tool designed to help policymakers identify and resource strategic policy opportunities that promote national economic development while addressing critical environmental and social objectives. It is easy-to-use, evidence-based, and contextualized for each country. The SBA is intended for use by many stakeholders, such as finance and line ministries, parliaments, supreme auditing institutions, credit rating agencies, investors, businesses, development partners, civil society, and researchers.
The SBA is particularly useful for developing and least-developed countries facing limited financing for sustainable development. It improves transparency and signals potential investment opportunities by making policy choices evidence-based and effective in delivering sustainable growth. Development Finance Institutions, investors, and businesses can benefit from the SBA’s insights and integration in budgetary and policy design, enabling them to make more informed decisions about investment allocations. This can support countries, projects, and initiatives that show progress towards integrated solutions for development and environmental objectives.
This document introduces the SBA, calling for all nations to strategically and efficiently utilize their scarce fiscal resources to enhance wellbeing, where wellbeing is driven not only by innovation, good jobs, and growth, but also by a stable climate and healthy ecosystems and landscapes. This is v1.0 of the SBA methodology, and we will be iterating upon it as more country data and applications enable more granularity and refinements.
