NEW YORK: The United Nations today launched its Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025, offering a sobering yet solution-oriented assessment of global progress toward the 2030 Agenda. UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Li Junhua jointly addressed the media, calling for urgent collective action to avert a looming development crisis.
“We are now ten years into our collective journey toward the 2030 Agenda,” said Secretary-General Guterres. “There are achievements worth celebrating — more people with access to electricity, education, and social protection. But let’s be clear: we are not where we need to be.”
According to the report, only 35 percent of SDG targets are on track or showing moderate progress, while nearly half are progressing too slowly and 18 percent are regressing. The Secretary-General described the situation as a “global development emergency,” citing over 800 million people still living in extreme poverty, rising climate impacts, and crushing debt burdens as major obstacles.
Guterres emphasized the urgent need to scale up investment in healthcare, education, and digital access, while highlighting the role of responsible artificial intelligence and gender equity. “Progress is impossible without unlocking financing at scale,” he said, referencing the recent Sevilla Commitment as a step toward reforming the international financial architecture and tripling the lending capacity of multilateral development banks.
Touching on the global conflict landscape, Guterres drew attention to the interlinkages between development and peace. He reiterated calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, continued stability between Iran and Israel, peace in Ukraine based on the UN Charter, and an end to the violence in Sudan and other conflict zones. “Sustainable peace requires sustainable development,” he noted.
Following Guterres, Under-Secretary-General Li Junhua detailed both achievements and ongoing challenges. Notable progress includes:
• A 40% decrease in new HIV infections since 2010
• Over 12 million lives saved through malaria prevention since 2000
• Elimination of at least one neglected tropical disease in 54 countries
• Enrollment of an additional 110 million children in school since 2015
• Electricity access reaching 92% of the global population
• Global internet usage increasing by 70% since 2015
“These are not just statistics, they are stories of lives transformed,” Li said. However, he cautioned that escalating conflict, climate instability, and a $4 trillion annual SDG financing gap in developing countries are significantly stalling progress.
Li identified six key “transitions” needed to drive progress: in food systems, energy, digital access, education, jobs, and climate. He urged countries to act decisively in upcoming global forums including the High-Level Political Forum, the World Social Summit, and the Second Food Systems Stocktake Summit.
Despite mounting challenges, the report concludes that the SDGs are still within reach, but only if the global community acts with “urgency, unity, and unwavering resolve.”
-WNN Desk
