‘Shared blueprint for peace’: Development goals deliver for billions, but challenges remain

With fewer than five years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a new UN report says sustained investment and international cooperation have improved billions of lives, but warns that governments must urgently accelerate action if the goals are to be met by their 2030 deadline.

The findings come from the 2026 SDG Progress Report, released on Tuesday, which calls the goals “a shared blueprint for peace” while acknowledging the significant political and financial challenges associated with meeting the 17 ambitious targets. 

Call to action

All 193 UN Member States adopted the SDGs in 2015 as an urgent call for action to promote peace and prosperity. With the SDGs at the heart of the 2030 Agenda, countries aim to achieve the goals by that year.

Coinciding with the annual report is the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), which kicked off in New York on Tuesday and will run until 15 July. The forum serves as the main UN platform tracking progress on the SDGs.

Most goals still not on track

Since 2015, hard-won gains have been made, including:

• Nearly one billion people gaining access to safe drinking water
• 1.2 billion people gaining access to safely managed sanitation
• New HIV infections falling by 30 per cent between 2015 and 2024
• Electricity now reaching 92 per cent of the global population
• Internet access surging from 40 to 74 per cent
• Social protection now covering more than half the global population

Despite those achievements, the report concludes that overall progress remains far too slow:

• One in 10 people still live in extreme poverty
• Food insecurity affects 2.3 billion people
• Maternal mortality remains nearly three times the global target
• In 2025, global temperatures reached 1.43°Celsius above pre-industrial levels
• 273 million children and young people remain out of school
• The global refugee population has more than doubled in the past decade

Of the 139 SDG targets with trend data, only 36 per cent are on track or making moderate progress. Meanwhile, 49 per cent of them are advancing too slowly and 15 per cent have regressed below 2015 baselines.

Escalating conflicts, climate change, slowing economic growth, rising debt and a record decline in official development assistance have slowed progress toward the SDGs and disproportionately affected the world’s most vulnerable people, according to the report.

Annual forum underway

Government ministers, top UN officials, civil society representatives and other stakeholders gathered Tuesday for the opening of the HLPF, which meets once every year under the auspices of the UN's Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Official HLPF programming will include a broad range of in-person and virtual special events for governments, UN entities, the private sector, youth, civil society and other groups to exchange knowledge and ideas on sustainable development.

At an event kicking off the forum, ECOSOC President Lok Bahadur Thapa pointed to widening disparities in areas ranging from clean energy to water security and urged countries to “work differently” to achieve the SDGs.

“The 2030 Agenda remains our shared promise – to people, to the planet and to future generations,” Mr. Thapa said. “The years ahead will not ask whether our challenges were difficult. They will ask whether we were equal to them.

Events will ramp up for the ministerial portion, also known as the High-Level Segment (HLS), which will take place from 13 to 16 July and result in the adoption of a ministerial declaration. Negotiations will be led by representatives from Albania and Sierra Leone.

The latest draft of the 2026 ministerial declaration includes commitments to increase investment in the SDGs and develop governance frameworks for transformative technologies such as artificial intelligence.

In last year’s declaration, Member States agreed to increase public financing of the SDGs, bridge digital divides, strengthen health systems and reduce maternal and child mortality.

Every four years, the SDG Summit, held under the umbrella of the General Assembly, brings together heads of State to produce a political declaration containing concrete commitments toward achieving the goals. The last SDG Summit occurred in 2023, and the next will take place in 2027.

Five goals front and centre

With the 2030 deadline to achieve the SDGs looming, this year’s HLPF focuses on “transformative, equitable, innovative and coordinated actions.”

Each year, Member States conduct in-depth reviews of a subset of the goals rather than all 17. SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals) is a permanent fixture.

In addition to SDG 17, States will analyze challenges and solutions surrounding SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure) and SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities).

To hold Member States accountable for achieving the SDGs, the UN encourages countries to conduct regular Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) of their progress. Almost every UN Member State has presented at least one VNR since 2016.

From Albania to Uruguay, 36 States will present VNRs at this year’s forum. The reports have been submitted and are available to view on the HLPF website.

Several UN officials recognized the difficulty of reaching the SDGs by 2030, but they reiterated the goals’ significance for uniting the world around a shared vision for the future.

Adapted from UN News story