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Despite Geopolitical Headwinds and Slow Progress, Global Commitment to the SDGs Holds Strong

By SDG Transformation Center

New SDSN report calls for stronger governance and implementation as the world enters the final stretch of the 2030 Agenda

23 June 2026 (Paris, France) — With less than four years remaining in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remains significantly off track: Only 16% of targets are projected to be achieved by the deadline. The vast majority of UN Member States remain committed to the framework, but a small number of countries, most notably the United States, have moved into active opposition to the paradigm of sustainable development and the multilateral institutions that underpin it. These are among the key findings of the 11th edition of the Sustainable Development Report (SDR), released today by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).

This year’s SDR calls for stronger SDG implementation and renewed global cooperation as the world enters the final years of the 2030 Agenda and begins laying the groundwork for a post-2030 framework. The report includes the SDG Index and Dashboards, ranking all UN Member States across the 17 SDGs, and the Index of Countries’ Support for UN-Based Multilateralism (UN-Mi), which tracks countries’ engagement with the UN system.

The report also features two new surveys: 1) The “SDSN Expert Survey on Government Efforts for the SDGs” and 2) a large-scale public survey spanning 127 countries on “SDG Challenges and Means for Implementation.” Together, they reveal broad public support for maintaining the SDG framework beyond 2030, while also exposing significant regional and country-level disparities in governance, policy effort, and implementation capacity. Across respondents, stronger mechanisms for financing, governance, and the use of science and data emerged as the top priorities for accelerating sustainable progress by 2030 and beyond.

“Support for sustainable development as the global paradigm remains strong throughout the world. Notable success stories have emerged across East and South Asia and in many other countries and regions. Sustainable development cannot be achieved amid ongoing conflict, making peace the top priority of our time,” said Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, President of the SDSN and a lead author of the report. “As the 2030 landmark approaches, the next era of sustainable development must put the global emphasis on implementation and ensuring strong financing and effective governance at all levels."
"The 2030 Agenda was always an ambitious undertaking, and today's geopolitical headwinds are testing the resilience of the multilateral system," said Dr. Guillaume Lafortune, Vice President of the SDSN and a lead author and coordinator of the report. "The moment calls for all countries to reaffirm the principles of the UN Charter, starting with Article 1, and to cooperate in building a credible global and regional security architecture. The next era of sustainable development must prioritize implementation through a reformed Global Financial Architecture, greater involvement of continental, regional, and local institutions, but also a central role for civil society and universities in driving accountability, innovation, and solutions on the ground.”

The report is available online from 22 June 2026 at 11:59 PM CET here.

Report Card: https://sdgtransformationcenter.org/reports/sustainable-development-report-2026

Data Visualization: https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/

UN-Mi Data Visualization: https://dashboards-unmi.sdgindex.org/

Citation Details: Sachs, J.D., Lafortune, G., Fuller, G., Iablonovski, G. (2026). Implementing Sustainable Development 2030 and Beyond. Sustainable Development Report 2026. Paris: SDSN, Dublin: Dublin University Press.

This year’s SDR highlights the following key findings:

  1. Global commitment to the SDGs remains strong. A large majority of countries continue to support UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions referencing sustainable development, with more than 170 of the 193 UN Member States backing all of these resolutions in 2025. Argentina and the United States were the only countries to consistently vote against resolutions linked to the sustainable development framework.
  2. East and South Asia outperform all other regions on SDG progress. East and South Asian countries have recorded the strongest SDG progress since 2015. Among major economies, India (+18) and China (+14) show the largest rank improvements. Finland leads this year’s SDG Index, followed by Sweden and Denmark. However, even these top performers face significant challenges on SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 14 (Life Below Water), and SDG 15 (Life on Land), partly due to unsustainable consumption patterns and negative international spillover effects.
  3. Goals related to cities, the environment, sustainable agri-food systems, and peace are particularly off-track. Among these, the most concerning are SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 14 (Life Below Water), SDG 15 (Life on Land), and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions). At the indicator level, the areas furthest from their targets include progress toward sustainable agriculture (SDG 2), the prevalence of obesity (SDG 3), as well as the timeliness of administrative proceedings, press freedom, and the Corruption Perceptions Index (SDG 16). In contrast, several indicators are progressing at the global level. These include rising mobile broadband subscriptions and internet use (SDG 9), declining adolescent fertility rates and HIV infections (SDG 3), and expanded electricity access (SDG 7).
  4. Barbados ranks first in commitment to UN-based multilateralism, while the U.S. ranks last. Barbados ranks as the country most committed to UN-based multilateralism in the SDR’s 2026 Index of Countries’ Support to UN-based Multilateralism (UN-Mi), which assesses countries’ engagement with the UN system and their support for SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) using six headline indicators. At the opposite end of the Index, the U.S. ranks last. This is highlighted in recent actions from the U.S. federal government, which withdrew from more than 60 international organizations in January 2026; voted with the international majority in only 5% of recorded UNGA votes in 2025; and formally opposes the SDGs, the 2030 Agenda, and the Paris Climate Agreement.
  5. Strengthening implementation is the defining priority for the next era of sustainable development. In 2026, the SDSN surveyed its networks across 64 countries and the European Union, alongside over 1,000 respondents from 127 countries, to assess government efforts and barriers to SDG implementation. Respondents broadly support maintaining the SDG framework beyond 2030, pointing to financing, governance, and the use of science and data as the areas most in need of strengthening. Views on progress vary significantly by region, with East and South Asia reporting more optimistic assessments of national and local SDG performance.
  6. Eight priorities for the next decades of sustainable development. The report identifies eight priorities to accelerate progress toward 2030 and beyond: (1) end ongoing wars and redirect military expenditures toward peace and human development; (2) establish an ambitious timeline for SDG implementation; (3) organize implementation around six major transformations; (4) adopt long-term investment plans to support these transformations; (5) strengthen continental, regional, and local cooperation and investment; (6) introduce new global taxes to finance global public goods; (7) develop global governance frameworks for AI, biotechnology, and other emerging technologies; and (8) establish new UN campuses in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Since 2016, the SDR has provided the most comprehensive data available to track and rank the performance of all UN Member States on the SDGs. This year’s edition draws on nearly 250,000 individual data points to produce more than 200 country and regional SDG profiles. The report was produced by a group of independent experts at the SDG Transformation Center, a flagship initiative of the SDSN.

Media Contacts

Alyson Marks, alyson.marks@unsdsn.org (Head of Communications and External Relations, U.S.-based)

Guillaume Lafortune, guillaume.lafortune@unsdsn.org (Vice President of the SDSN, Lead Coordinator, and Report Author, Malaysia-based)

About the SDSN

The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) has been operating since 2012 under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General. The SDSN mobilizes global scientific and technological expertise to promote practical solutions for sustainable development, including the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement. We aim to accelerate joint learning and promote integrated approaches that address the interconnected economic, social, and environmental challenges confronting the world. One of the SDSN’s flagship initiatives is the SDG Transformation Center, which produces the Sustainable Development Report (SDR) and provides science-backed tools and analytics for SDG pathways, policies, and financing.

For more information, visit unsdsn.org and sdgtransformationcenter.org.