Prosperity Through Resilience: Sustainable Public Finance as the Engine of Circularity, Competitiveness, and Inclusive Economic Growth

The growing frequency and severity of interconnected shocks – from extreme weather events, debt distress, or other external shocks – are placing increasing strains on the public purse. At the same time, governments are expected to mobilize scarce resources to advance sustainable investment and inclusive development.  

Meeting these competing demands requires a more integrated and forward-looking approach to policy design, planning, budgeting. It also requires strong public financial management systems to adequately address the escalating impact of climate risks, resource depletion, pollution, and economic volatility in critical sectors of the economy, which also have major implications on jobs, livelihoods and decent work. 

A systemic response is needed—one that aligns public finance, private investment, and circular economy principles – to build resilience across economic, environmental, and social dimensions. 

This event at UNEA-7 will spotlight public finance as the bedrock for systemic resilience, demonstrating how well-designed fiscal strategies can steer sustainable private investments, foster robust domestic business ecosystems, and create an enabling environment for decent work and inclusive economic growth. It will: 

• Position public finance as the essential foundation for building systemic resilience. 

• Demonstrate effective pathways to mobilize private finance and stimulate domestic business ecosystems through enabling policy frameworks, incentives, and innovative financial instruments aligned with circular economy principles and national resilience goals. 

• Highlight practical examples of successful cross-ministerial collaboration between MoF and MoEnv (including other key ministries) in designing coherent strategies that reduce vulnerabilities, encourage sustainable private-sector engagement, and ensure inclusive, jobs-rich economic growth that generates decent work opportunities. 

• Share actionable tools and methodologies (e.g., macroeconomic modeling, sustainable budgeting, public-private partnership frameworks, blended finance models).  

Building on outcomes from the Financing for Development 4 Conference (in Seville), this event will focus on innovations and partnerships that Ministries of Finance and of Environment can take to increase resilience to external shocks by aligning budgets and investments with resilience ambitions. It will also unveil progress on the updated Guide on the Role of Ministries of Finance in Supporting Climate Action, now expanded to cover nature and adaptation priorities as they play out across key high-impact sectors of the economy.