By Guillaume Lafortune* – Article sent to Other News by the author
The world faces unprecedented danger of self-destruction. The Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists measures how close humanity is to self-destruction, mainly caused by nuclear Armageddon, but also through environmental catastrophe. In January 2025 (latest update) the Clock was set at just 89 seconds to midnight, the closest to midnight (the most proximate to self-destruction of humanity) in the history of the clock since its introduction in 1947. The war started by Israel against Iran in June 2025, and now conducted with the full direct support of the United States of America (US), brought humanity even closer to midnight. Estimates from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED), suggest that 1 in 8 people in the world might be exposed to violent conflict and that violent conflicts have doubled in the past five years.
Undeniably, this has direct negative impacts on the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These 17 Global Goals adopted in 2015 by all 193 UN member states aim to guide humanity toward a bright future where social and economic prosperity is combined with environmental sustainability. According to the latest Sustainable Development Report (SDR25) published on 24 June by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), none of the SDGs are on track to be achieved and less than 20% of the specific targets are projected to be achieved by 2030. Military conflicts have direct humanitarian and environmental impacts but also distract attention and resources away from collective action for sustainable development.
Despite this ominous news the SDR25 also shows how certain regions and countries managed to make significant progress towards sustainable development in the past decade. The report also emphasizes how despite the multiple global crises commitment to the SDGs remains very high internationally. Most countries still pursue global cooperation via the UN system, yet the low and declining support for UN-based multilateralism and sustainable development by some of the most powerful and influential countries in the world, notably the U.S., undermines global SDG progress and the trust needed for collective action. Coalitions of countries must emerge quickly and be vocal about the need for a strong UN system and collective action on sustainable development.
Most Countries Remain Committed to the SDGs; East and South Asian Countries Outperform Other Regions in SDG progress Since 2015
Ten years after their adoption at the UN SDG commitment remains high globally. To date, 190 of the 193 UN Member States have participated in the Voluntary National Review (VNR) process, presenting their national plans and priorities for sustainable development. Since 2015, most countries have submitted two or more VNRs, and 39 countries committed last October to presenting a VNR this year. Only three countries have not yet participated in the VNR process: Haiti, Myanmar, and the U.S. Additionally, a growing number of regional and local governments have developed Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) to report on SDG implementation at the subnational level. Many countries are also developing strategies, financing, and monitoring frameworks around the SDGs.
On average, East and South Asian countries have demonstrated the fastest progress on the SDGs since 2015. Nepal, Cambodia, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and Mongolia showcased strong progress on the SDGs compared with their 2015 baselines. And China (#49) and India (#99) have entered the top 100 countries on the SDG index this year for the first time. Other countries demonstrating rapid progress among their peers include Benin, Peru, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Costa Rica, and Saudi Arabia.
China, in particular, has demonstrated promising commitment to the SDGs and climate action. It has submitted two action plans for sustainable development (VNRs), and its President Xi Jinping recently strengthened its commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement by announcing that China would prepare a 2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) covering all economic sectors and all greenhouse gases before the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil. In addition, despite the rapid growth in the demand for power generation, China’s CO2 emissions were down by 1.6% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025 and by 1% in the last 12 months driven by clean power generation. China also broke its own record in terms of renewable energy production in 2024 – including wind, solar, hydroelectricity, and geothermal – which also contributes to lowering the price internationally of low-carbon technologies. Via the Belt and Road initiative China also financially supports the expansion of infrastructure internationally critical for achieving sustainable development.
Countries’ Support for UN-based Multilateralism: Barbados Ranks First and the U.S. Last
The 2030 Agenda and the SDGs emphasize the importance of international cooperation and peace to achieve sustainable development, notably under SDG17 (Partnerships for the Goals). 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the SDGs and the 80th anniversary of the United Nations. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the international community adopted the UN Charter (1945) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) providing the vision and guiding principles for maintaining peace and security and for global cooperation.
The SDSN has pioneered an Index of countries’ support for UN-based multilateralism (UN-Mi) featured in the SDR using six headline indicators: (1) Ratification of major UN treaties; (2) Percentage of votes aligned with the international majority at the UN General Assembly (UNGA); (3) Participation in selected UN organizations and agencies; (4) Participation in conflicts and militarization; (5) Use of unilateral coercive measures (UCMs); and (6) Contribution to the UN budget and international solidarity.
As with previous SDR editions, Barbados stands out as the country most committed to UN-based multilateralism. Interestingly, Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, has played a leadership role in advancing the reform of the GFA notably via the Bridgetown Initiative. This year, Brazil ranks as the most committed to UN-based multilateralism among G20 countries, and Chile ranks first among the OECD countries. The U.S. ranks last for the second year in a row – and by far. The Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Somalia, Israel, the Democratic Republic of Korea, and South Sudan also perform relatively poorly.
The contrast in commitment to the SDGs and UN-based multilateralism between the U.S. and other large economies including China is particularly striking. Not only has the U.S. never taken part in the VNR process, but in this year alone it has announced its withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, the World Health Organization (WHO), and from the negotiations at the upcoming Fourth International Conference on Development in Seville, Spain. Furthermore, it has officially stated its opposition to the SDGs and 2030 Agenda and implemented significant cuts to its development assistance budgets over the past several months.
This explicit opposition to the SDGs happened almost exactly twenty years after the explicit opposition to the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) expressed in 2005 by the Bush Administration and US opposition to the Kyoto Protocol which aimed to combat global warming. The US has also been dragging its feet for years when it comes to promoting an ambitious reform of the Global Financial Architecture (GFA) – the complex system of public and private finance that channels the world’s saving to the world’s investment – to advance sustainable development and share fairly and globally the burden of climate change impacts. Of course the US is by far the country most responsible historically for cumulative carbon dioxide emissions and human-induced climate change.
One variable is particularly striking on the UN-Mi: the decline in the share of U.S. votes aligned with the international majority. The decline from the 1970s is largely explained by the U.S. opposition to international financial reforms for development, votes against Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian territories captured in the 1967 war, and votes to end unilateral economic sanctions (a policy instrument that the US deploys more than any other country). The U.S. and its ally Israel are the two countries that vote least often with the rest of the international community at UNGA.
As recently argued by scholars, the concept of “rules-based international order” promoted by the U.S. and some of its allies is different, often opposite, to the concept of UN-based multilateralism. The U.S. opposition to UN-based multilateralism and the SDGs does not reflect of course the U.S. historical role in the creation of the UN in 1945 nor the active role played by civil society and U.S. municipalities to advance sustainable development.
The SDGs are Within Reach; Short-term and Long-term Priorities to Achieve Sustainable Development by 2030 and Mid-Century
The U.S. federal government opposition to the SDGs, climate action and, more broadly to UN-based multilateralism, does not reflect the position of most UN member states. Practically speaking, to advance global cooperation for sustainable development “coalitions of the willing” will probably need to prevail in UN negotiations (in opposition to the principle of unanimity), at least temporarily, considering the explicit opposition of the U.S. to sustainable development.
Pathways and solutions exist for sustainable development. Ultimately, there are no technological or other operational obstacles to achieving the SDGs. From a global perspective, the goals are also affordable with an SDG annual financing gap estimated at around 4% of global output, which in developing countries often represents a significant share of national output – perhaps 20-30% of GDP. There is also large public support for sustainable development and climate action.
Yet, despite the Goals being popular and achievable, it is unlikely that they will be achieved by 2030, particularly given the low and declining support for the SDGs and UN-based multilateralism by some of the most influential and powerful countries in the world. In the short-run diplomacy and de-escalation should be the priority, especially when tensions involve multiple nuclear powers.
Long-term investment and policy pathways for sustainable development can show how SDG transformations can be achieved. This is at the heart of the SDSN’s work and support to countries and regional governments through its initiatives, including the SDG Transformation Center, FABLE, and the Global Climate Hub which bring together policymakers and scientists to define sustainability pathways and monitoring frameworks. These pathways should be backed by long-term and affordable financing recognizing the high societal and financial returns of investing in sustainable development, particularly in developing countries.
As such the most important practical problem facing UN members is how to enable the vast US$30 trillion pool of world savings to flow in much larger amounts to where they are most in need: to low-income and lower-middle income countries and those most vulnerable to global environmental shocks, and to the poorest people within all countries. In a statement released in April following the Workshop on Financing for Development in the Jubilee Year 2025 organized by the Program on the Fraternal Economy and hosted at the Vatican, practitioners and experts identified the main operational priorities to reform the GFA and also called for the establishment of legal, regulatory, and ethical frameworks to direct innovations and the benefits of cutting-edge technologies towards the common good.
The international community will have numerous occasions to form these coalitions of the willing to advance policies and financing for sustainable development despite the US opposition. Such coalitions managed last April to come up with the first international agreement on a shipping levy to curb carbon emissions despite the US threatening counter measures. Upcoming international conferences include FfD4 in Spain (30 June – 3 July 2025), the 80th UN General Assembly (September 2025) and COP30 in Brazil (November 2025) among others.
Also, the next UN SDG Summit at Heads of States level in 2027 should hopefully provide the momentum for an ambitious international agenda for sustainable development beyond 2030, perhaps to mid-century. This is what policymakers owe to current and future generations, not endless conflicts and misery.
*Guillaume Lafortune, Vice President of the SDSN and Head of the Paris Office.