UNDP Nordic Private Sector

It’s a wrap! Last week, the Green Growth and Jobs Accelerator Annual Meeting (#GGJAAnnualMeeting) took place in Cairo, Egypt! Colleagues from UNDP Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, and Jordan, alongside our implementing partners Flat6Labs and New Silk Roads gathered to reflect on the results of Cohort 1 of our Accelerator, share lessons learned, and plan for the next cohort’s implementation. The final day was a standout moment, as we visited some of the participating companies in GGJAP. Jadeed, a tech-driven startup, is transforming energy efficiency by implementing advanced equipment that reduces fuel consumption by 30–40%. Jadeed’s customized solution provides control, tracking, performance analytics to empower users with data and insights such as fuel, maintenance and CO2 saved. ReNile, an agri-tech innovator, is transforming sustainable farming with IoT technology. In two years, it has supported over 300 clients, including Makadi Farm, a century-old producer of hydroponic organic products. ReNile's smart tools optimize resources, enhance energy efficiency, and reduce environmental impact, advancing sustainable agriculture. The Green Growth and Jobs Accelerator is a UNDP initiative - part of the Danish-Arab Partnership Programme (DAPP) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. Curious to learn more? Check out our website: https://lnkd.in/dPtbk23p Stay tuned for much more updates on #GGJAAnnualMeeting and our journey toward sustainable growth! Dansk-Arabisk Partnerskabsprogram Jakob Silas Lund Dorthe Petersen Kurt Mørck Jensen Lotte Machon Anne Smith Petersen Mads Benedictus Jørgensen Nicoletta Ghisu Haddad, Linda Henrik Fredborg Larsen PNUD Maroc UNDP Tunisia UNDP Jordan UNDP Egypt Ahmed El Karrany Karim Saber Hammami Aseel Qubbaj Larbi Toumi, Ph.D Salma Haddad UNDP in the Arab States region Lamiaa Khayrat Stine Kirstein Junge Pernille Jægerfelt Mouritsen Yassmine Bichichi Caroline Aberg Abeer Shakweer

More Danish investments in companies that impact SDGs in developing countries. Four Danish pension funds, together with the Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU), have entered into an agreement to establish the Danish SDG Investment Fund II with a preliminary total capital commitment of DKK 2.7 billion. Through investments in the private sector in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the fund will contribute to realising the #SDGs and help support the green transition, contribute to better living conditions and at the same time create good returns for investors.  The agreement on the Danish SDG Investment Fund II was officially signed at a launch last week, with members of the Danish pension funds, PFA, PKA, P+, Pensionskassen for Akademikere and PenSam, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen in attendance. Read more here:    https://lnkd.in/grJm6pkR UNDP partners with governments, development and commercial banks, financial institutions, and the private sector to achieve our USD 1 trillion Finance moonshot by promoting investments towards the SDGs. We are thrilled about the launch of the Danish SDG Investment Fund II, with its final target of a total capital commitment of DKK 5 billion, which will help to create a more secure and sustainable future. To unlock private capital for sustainable development policy reforms are critical.  A newly published report by UNDP suggests that promoting private sector participation in key sectors can make public spending more efficient, enabling reallocations to critical areas such as disaster response and social services. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eJdD7Suc   IFU, PFA, PKA, P+, Pensionskassen for Akademikere; PenSam, Rune Nørgaard, Nicholas Rindahl, Rikke Gredsted Seidenfaden, Camilla Woergaard, Pia Lykke, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Kristoffer Jonsson, Lars Bertram; Michael Rasmussen; Anna Rosling Rönnlund; Lars Løkke Rasmussen; Sony Kapoor; Jon Johnsen; Jakob Tvede; Mikkel Klim; Ole Krogh Petersen; Torsten Fels, Devahuti Choudhury, Şebnem Şener, Artak Robert Melkonyan,

Finnish recycling company RiverRecycle announced as the winner of the Impact Potential Award of the Mastercard Lighthouse MASSIV Impact Tech Partnership Program! The winner of the Impact Potential Award of the 2024 fall #MASSIV class is RiverRecycle, a company building an ecosystem that addresses plastic collection, recycling, and product creation. RiverRecycle was selected for creating a positive, tangible impact on the world in line with Mastercard Lighthouse MASSIV’s vision of helping 1 billion people live more prosperous and secure lives. “With innovative technology, they clean rivers and transform collected waste into marketable products through recycling and pyrolysis. RiverRecycle exemplifies how innovation can be a driving force in building a cleaner, more resilient world. At UNDP, we’re pleased to once more be able to award and support companies like RiverRecycle.,” says Stine Kirstein Junge from UNDP Nordic Private Sector Representation Office. We also congratulate PryvX, a Swedish data collaboration platform which is the overall winner of the 2024 fall class and Zero Labs, winner of the Investor Award. The latter is a climate tech software startup providing pioneering digital renewable energy as a service platform. This fall’s class also included AFRIPAY one-stop-shop cross-border payment platform that empowers African students aspiring to study abroad, and Omocom, who provides insurance solutions for circular economy platforms.  Mastercard Lighthouse MASSIV is a unique startup programme that helps social impact and sustainability-focused companies scale through partnerships. UNDP serves as a partner in an advisory capacity, supporting with impact measurement and management. Stine Kirstein Junge, Jim Runsten, Olof Hultén, Kristaps Prusis, Shu-Wen Chan, Joakim Höglund, Simon Engelbrecht, Melanie R., Casper Bjørner, Geetha Selvakumar, John Samuel, Hanna Blom, Tobias Mård, Gaspar Wosa, Anssi Mikola, beltran berrocal, Mats Taraldsson, Caroline Barnekow, Inez Molnár, Dasha Shvaikovskaya, Bianka Horváth, Ludwig Kukacka, Marie-Louise Dahl, Lucy Wanjiru, Artak Robert Melkonyan, Sahba Sobhani,  

🌍After two weeks of intense negotiations, the United Nations's annual climate conference #COP29 in Baku has come to an end. With climate finance at the top of the agenda, world leaders have agreed on a joint statement that commits rich countries to pay $300 billion (2.100 billion DKK) until 2035. 💰The money will be used to promote the global green transition and help countries in the global south adapt to climate change. While the pace does not fully reflect the urgency of the climate crisis, the #COP29 shows that the Paris Agreement remains essential for climate action.   However, as we have heard repeatedly from developing countries, experts, and scientists over the past two weeks, the true cost of meaningful climate action is far higher. Climate change respects no borders and therefore investments are not just an investment in the future of individual countries, they are an investment in our common future. And we can and must do better. Only a determined and courageous effort by each country can effectively halt the rapid development of climate change.   At UNDP, we lead the UN's climate action. Towards the #COP30, with our #ClimatePromise, we will continue to support more than 100 countries in increasing the level of ambition of the national climate goals, and help them translate the pledges into concrete #climateaction 🤝 🔗Read UNDP Executive Director Achim Steiner's statement on the results of the #COP29: https://lnkd.in/d3UjUjTS    

How do we do sustainability in practice?   Access to – and use of – resources provides both challenges and opportunities for sustainability and business. Recently at Danish Standard Sustainability Day Danish companies, organisations and other actors zoomed in on resources – the natural, the human and the management of resources to show the way towards more sustainability. They also discussed and shared concrete knowledge and experiences about sustainability initiatives that can inspire people to get started with the green and sustainable transition. At the event Fabienne Michaux, Director of SDG Impact, presented the ISO/UNDP guidelines on SDGs, a guidance document to help organizations contribute to the #SDGs. The guidelines have been developed as a partnership between ISO - International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to provide organizations with a unified approach to systematically manage and optimize their impact on sustainable development across various operational aspects. Those guidelines are crucial for promoting a holistic approach to sustainable development, enabling organizations to contribute positively to the SDGs. Read more here:   https://lnkd.in/daxGmj56 Danish Standard; UNDP; Fabienne Michaux; Berit Asmussen; Tina Helsted Vengsgaard; Phie Ambo; Kirsten Brosbol; Lotte Hansen; Jacob Rask; Muneeza Rosendahl; Rasmus Provstgaard Duus; Hanne Svenningsen; Didde Rishøj; Ulrik Fonsmark Andreasen;

📢 Are you interested in global development and a career with the UN?    🇺🇳 We are looking for two interns for spring 2025 at UNDP’s Nordic Office in UN City, Copenhagen.    Do you have a strong interest in and knowledge of global development, communications, and the work of international organizations? Then this is the right place for you!    We are hiring two interns: one Swedish-speaking 🇸🇪, covering our work in Sweden, and one Finnish-speaking 🇫🇮, covering our work in Finland and Iceland. Both roles involve working with communication, administration, and events, as well as political analysis and media monitoring. Strong proficiency in Swedish or Finnish (for the respective position), along with English, is required.     Experience creating content for social media, websites, and communication materials is considered a big advantage.    The internship is paid and will run for six months, from January 15 to July 15, 2025.    📅 Application deadlines:    Sweden: November 7th, 2024    Finland: November 7th, 2024    Read more and apply at 👇  🇸🇪https://lnkd.in/dvByePM8  🇫🇮 https://lnkd.in/dRUsXTj9

Driving change through financing for development. Last Thursday, we celebrated UN Day here in UN City. The annual UN Day offers the opportunity to amplify our common agenda and reaffirm the purposes and principles of the UN Charter that have guided us for the past 78 years. This year the focus was on the UN’s #PactForTheFuture. This forward-looking initiative aims to transform global governance, tackle climate change, enhance digital cooperation, and promote peace, security, and sustainable development.  One highlight of the day was a session on Financing for Development, co-hosted by UNDP, UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre, and UN Women. Panelists, including Egyptian Ambassador to Denmark H.E. Mr. Karim Sherif, Henrik Fredborg Larsen, Director of the UNDP Nordic Representation Office, Caroline Rusten, Chief Global Public Partnerships at UN Women, Sara Lærke Meltofte Trærup, Head of Section on Technology Transitions and System Innovation at UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre, and Rune Nørgaard, Communication Director at IFU, discussed the importance of inclusive green growth, climate resilience, and gender equality in accelerating the #SDGs. Together, they explored how to create a sustainable finance architecture and align investments with gender equality and climate goals. The conversation continued with insights from multilateral leaders, government officials, investors, and foundations, focusing on how to turn these strategies into impactful, real-world outcomes. Sustainable finance lies at the heart of UNDP developments strategies. Through the UNDP Sustainable Finance Hub, we support countries’ efforts to build a sustainable finance architecture that advances investment decisions aligned with the SDGs. UNDP has committed to promote over US$1 trillion in public and private capital investments towards the SDGs, together with its partners.    Henrik Fredborg Larsen, Caroline Rusten, Sara Lærke Meltofte Trærup and Rune Nørgaard; Noa Valentin Katz Søgaard (FKA Flemming Johannesen); UNDP; UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre; UN Women; IFU;   

The Green Growth and Jobs Accelerator took the stage at Techne Summit 2024 in Alexandria, Egypt! Techne Summit is an international, multi-industry investment and entrepreneurship event. UNDP Egypt participated in dynamic panel discussions, while companies from the Green Growth and Jobs Accelerator pitched their business ideas to potential investors, opening up opportunities for growth, networking, and promoting Egypt’s green economy. It was a platform for fostering entrepreneurship and advancing sustainable business ideas. For example, 'Al-Fares for Agricultural Development' uses plant tissue culture technology to produce disease-free plants and active ingredients efficiently. Meanwhile, 'Jadeed' focuses on sustainable energy solutions to reduce carbon emissions and increase environmental awareness. The Green Growth and Jobs Accelerator is a UNDP initiative - part of the Danish-Arab Partnership Programme (DAPP) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark implemented in partnership with Flat6Labs. Curious to learn more? Check out our website and watch the video: https://lnkd.in/dPtbk23p UNDP in the Arab States region Nicoletta Ghisu Kurt Mørck Jensen Lotte Machon Darriann Riber Ahmed El Karrany Lamiaa Khayrat Nezar Sami Abeer Shakweer Stine Kirstein Junge Pernille Jægerfelt Mouritsen Susanne Dam-Hansen UNDP Sustainable Finance Hub

Grow your strategic advantage by becoming an Accredited Trainer for the SDG Impact Standards! In a world increasingly focused on sustainability and evolving regulations, the SDG Impact Standards, developed by UNDP, offer a transformative management framework for enterprises and investors. By integrating the SDGs and impact management into your core operations, these standards help your organization: - Navigate growing compliance obligations (EU CSRD, ISSB, CSDDD).  - Move beyond compliance to anticipate sustainability risks and opportunities. - Explore new business models and partnerships for long-term SDG contributions. Join our Nordic-focused cohort in November, delivered by UNDP & Social Value International, to explore how the SDG Impact Standards can align with your regional and regulatory context. You’ll also gain insights into the recently published ISO-UNDP guidelines and management system standards, conceptually aligned with the SDG Impact Standards for Enterprises. 📅 Course Dates: Thurs 7 - Fri 8 & Mon 11 – Wed 13 November 2024  🕒 Time: 10:00 am – 14:00 pm CET Find out more and register here: https://lnkd.in/e_mD7DfP Deadline to apply is Sunday 6 October 2024.  Don't miss this chance to make a global impact! Apply now to become an Accredited Trainer for the SDG Impact Standards and work with organizations to position them at the forefront of sustainable impact. Together, we can drive sustainability and SDG alignment worldwide. Nicole Watson Nzube Anioke Sara Lisa Ørstavik Fabienne Michaux Yulia Romaschenko Ben Carpenter Sebnem Sener Caroline Aberg Stine Kirstein Junge Pernille Jægerfelt Mouritsen UNDP Danmark UNDP Norway UNDP Sverige UNDP Finland

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” That’s how Henrik Fredborg Larsen, Director of the UNDP Nordic Office, opened the second day of the OECD - OCDE Local Development Forum 2024 at UN City Copenhagen. The event brought together around 300 participants from across the globe. A special thanks to the OECD and Greater Copenhagen teams for the wonderful partnership! The challenges we face today cannot be addressed in isolation. During the Forum, we explored how to go further, together, by uniting local actions with global ambitions. Panel discussions covered topics on bridging innovation and inclusion, and we heard keynote speeches from, among others, Morten Dahlin, Danish Minister for Cities and Rural Districts, Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs and Minister for Nordic Cooperation, and Karen Ellemann, Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers.   During the Forum, we held a deep dive session in which UNDP presented two companies from the Green Growth Job Accelerator, part of the Danish-Arab Partnership Programme: Jodoor from Morocco and Studio Raa from Jordan. The session discussed youth in just transitions and how young and innovative companies in the Arab region can drive green growth and support job creation. Jodoor aims to provide a robust, inclusive, and prosperous infrastructure for the agriculture of tomorrow. Studio Raa offers unique and customized production for business merchandise. These two female-founded enterprises showcase how women and youth can lead the way in a just transition. In essence, the OECD Local Development Forum 2024 emphasized the power of coming together to achieve sustainable change. With inspiring discussions, innovative ideas, and the shared experiences of participants from across the globe, it became clear that the future we seek is one of collaboration, shared vision, and collective action. By harnessing the creativity of young people, the resilience of communities, and the strength of partnerships, we can truly go further than we ever imagined. Photo credit: Jesper Blæsild, Greater Copenhagen UNDP in the Arab States region Kurt Mørck Jensen Lotte Machon Darriann Riber Dorthe Petersen Jakob Silas Lund Caroline Aberg Noa Valentin Katz Søgaard (FKA Flemming Johannesen) Michelle Muschett Marcos Neto Gemma Aguado de la Fuente Sara Ferrer Olivella Karen E. Maguire Anna Rubin Anni Huovinen Melker Nielsen Lars Gaardhøj Thomas Bustrup Evelyne AHIPEAUD Artak Robert Melkonyan Susanne Dam-Hansen Haddad, Linda Nicoletta Ghisu Larbi Toumi, Ph.D Yassmine Bichichi Aseel Qubbaj Rula Kattan Sokayna Bellam 🍉Stine Kirstein Junge The Nordic Council of Ministers and The Nordic Council