The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development covers 17 goals, the 17th of which is “Partnerships for the goals,” namely: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.

Under this major goal, there are 19 targets, the 17.17 of which is “Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships.”

●Current Situation

The World

Public-private partnerships transformed into agreements that can bring a wide range of benefits

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have undergone an important shift in recent years: from being understood as a risk mitigation exercise for the public and private sectors to a broader notion of structuring agreements that can bring broad development benefits—including incorporating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Alongside this evolution came a new generation of more resilient, regenerative PPPs that aim to leave no one behind.

Photo: World Bank

Despite criticisms, PPPs are now fully considered as a mechanism to deliver results under the United Nations 2030 Agenda, which articulates the following set of principles for PPPs:

• Careful consideration given to the structure and use of blended finance instruments

• Sharing risks and rewards fairly

• Meeting social and environmental standards

• Ensuring “sustainable, accessible, affordable and resilient quality infrastructure”

• Ensuring accountability mechanisms and transparency, including in public procurement frameworks and contracts

• Ensuring participation of communities in decisions that affect them

• Ensuring effective management, accounting, and budgeting for contingent liabilities, and debt sustainability

• Alignment with national priorities and relevant principles of effective development cooperation

In addition, hybrid Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are emerging as a promising solution. These partnerships combine the strengths of public and private sectors and the support of the World Bank Group to deliver essential services more efficiently and effectively, particularly in developing countries.

Source: World Bank

China

China to regulate, implement new PPP mechanism

The signing ceremony for the PPP projects of Line 12 and Line 13 of Shenzhen’s urban rail transit. Photo: sznews.com

The State Council approved and forwarded a guideline on Nov 8, 2023, to regulate the new mechanism of public-private partnerships (PPP), jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance.

According to the guideline, PPP projects should focus on user-paid projects, clarify the channels and methods of payment. Meanwhile, the operational revenue of PPP projects should cover construction investment and operational costs with some investment returns.

All PPP projects should adopt franchising format with defined asset ownerships in both construction and operation stages and clear rights, responsibilities and interests of all parties by contract.

Projects in transportation, municipal administration, ecological protection and environment improvement, social programs, and new infrastructure will be given priority, the guideline said.

The guideline also stressed that private enterprises will be given more support to participate in PPPs. For projects with strong public features, the equity ratio of private enterprises should be no less than 35% in principle.

Shenzhen has introduced private capital through various means, such as inter-enterprise cooperative investment, sole proprietorship of private capital, public-private partnership, equity transfer, capital increase and share expansion.

Source: www.gov.cn

●Cases

The World

K Health expands access to primary care

Photo：K Health

K Health has built a clinical grade medical chat based on large datasets, and offers 24/7 virtual primary care medical services to people in the US through its partnerships with leading health systems and insurers, including Cedars-Sinai, Mayo Clinic Health Systems, Elevance Health and UnitedHealthcare. Providers are also available through K Health’s web app. K Health’s clinical and AI offerings create a high-quality, cost-effective system of care for provider systems and patients.

K Health is addressing a significant pain point (access to primary care), and its value proposition has a clear short-term financial return on investment. Provider systems that integrate the technology increase the efficiency of physicians and accelerate access to the specialties that are more profitable.

K Health works with academic researchers to evaluate the accuracy of its AI and build predictive models to help doctors optimize treatment. A retrospective study of 100,000 K Health patient visits found that clinicals agreed with the AI-recommended diagnoses 84.2% of the time. Another peer-reviewed study shows how an AI model built by K Health using de-identified data from Mayo Clinic is proven effective in predicting optimal medication regimen in hypertension patients.

Source: World Economic Forum

International Trade Union Confederation establishes a Just Transition Centre

As the global union confederation representing 200 million workers in 163 countries and territories, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) established its Just Transition Centre, in order to accelerate just transition processes globally.

Photo: International Trade Union Confederation

Taking advantage of ITUC’s leadership and deep connections with its members, the center is a strategic voice for stakeholders designing context-specific just transition processes that can provide “better and decent jobs, social protections, more training opportunities and greater job security for all workers affected by global warming and climate change policies.” In addition to documenting best practices across national contexts and making strategic recommendations in global policy dialogues, the center facilitates social dialogue processes involving unions, communities, government and business.

Source: World Economic Forum

Longgang District cooperates with China Resources Group to develop MixC Universiade World

Photo: WeChat official account of MixC Universiade World

On July 28, 2024, Longgang District, Shenzhen ushered in the opening of MixC Universiade World. This open commercial complex with an area of about 65,000 square meters not only integrates commercial blocks, ecological lake views, parks and green spaces and professional sports venues, but also adopts the PPP (public-private partnership) model for the first time, which is jointly developed by the Longgang District Government and China Resources Group. As a well-known commercial real estate operator in CR Mixc Lifestyle’s experience in operation and management provides a strong guarantee for the successful operation of MixC Universiade World.

Source: Sohu

Renovation project of Shenzhen Women and Children’s Building

Photo: WeChat official account of Shenzhen Futian Construction & Decoration Design Association

Shenzhen Women and Children’s Building, as the first public-private partnership project (PPP) in the field of women and children in China, and the first PPP renovation project in the field of public services in Shenzhen, has been highly recognized by the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission, and has been included in the PPP project database of the Ministry of Finance, which has reference and demonstration significance for the transformation of Shenzhen’s existing cultural facilities.

Source: WeChat official account of Shenzhen Futian Construction & Decoration Design Association

●Background

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) initiated by the United Nations

On January 1, 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including 169 targets, of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development — adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at an historic UN Summit — officially came into force. Countries will mobilize efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change while ensuring that no one is left behind.