VIENNA – The newest edition of UNIDO’s flagship publication, the Industrial Development Report 2024 (IDR2024), stresses the pivotal role that industry can play in delivering sustainable development solutions, given its strong impact on social and environmental goals. Participants at a pre-launch event, “Industrial Policy for a Fair Globalization: Insights from the Industrial Development Report 2024”, heard how progress on industry-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in relation to clean energy, decent work and innovation has been slower than hoped for, especially in developing countries. There is an urgent need for new industrial policies that are aligned with the SDGs.

The IDR2024 presents model solutions for developing countries, such as supply chain development in the green minerals sector – a key element for the energy transition, skills development for local digital solutions to improve advanced manufacturing, and strategically fortifying trade infrastructure to attract Foreign Direct Investment. The Report provides concrete examples, which demonstrate how different regions of the world are successfully implementing industrial policies to accelerate progress for sustainable development.

In his opening remarks, UNIDO Director General Gerd Müller said, “The Industrial Development Report 2024 shows that the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and the consequences of ongoing wars around the world hit people in developing countries the hardest.”

He pointed out that the report “gives insight into the future we are heading towards and what needs to be done to make it a bright one.” In his analysis he stressed that UNIDO wants to bring industrial policy back into focus and that there is a huge need for investment in infrastructure, and particularly in agribusiness infrastructure and in the food-processing industry, in sustainable energy for all, in decarbonization of industry and in job creation.

The event convened distinguished speakers and panellists, including Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, Melaku Alebel, Ethiopia’s Minister of Industry, and José David Prado Vásquez, Guatemala's Vice-Minister for Investment and Competition.

The panellists discussed how future industrial policies should look to ensure a fairer globalization and which measures countries can take in order to harness the opportunities presented by the energy transition, digitalization and demographic changes. They also made suggestions of actions the international community can take to accelerate sustainable industrialization in least developed countries.

Echoing the calls by Director General Müller, Cristiano Pasini, Director of UNIDO’s Division of Capacity Development, Industrial Policy Advice and Statistics, called on the international community to join hands to support a ‘New Deal’ for fair globalization based on the sharing of new technologies and opening of space to implement industrial policies.

See the overview of the IDR2024 here.

The full report will be published during the first quarter of 2024.