UN report shows insufficient progress on SDGs

With only five years to go, merely 35 percent of the targets of the Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs) are on track, while nearly half are stalling and 18 percent have regressed, according to a UN report released on Monday.

In the past decade since the 2023 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted, notable global achievements have been made in health, education, energy and digital connectivity, according to "The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025."

New HIV infections have declined by nearly 40 percent since 2010. Malaria prevention has averted 2.2 billion cases and saved 12.7 million lives since 2000. Social protection now reaches over half of the world's population, up significantly from a decade ago. Since 2015, 110 million more children and youth have entered school. Child marriage is in decline, with more girls staying in school and women gaining ground in parliaments around the world, the report said.

In 2023, 92 percent of the world's population had access to electricity. Internet use has surged from 40 percent in 2015 to 68 percent in 2024. Conservation efforts have doubled protection of key ecosystems, contributing to global biodiversity resilience, the report said.

However, the pace of change remains insufficient to meet the SDGs by 2030.

More than 800 million people still live in extreme poverty. Billions still lack access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services. Climate change pushed 2024 to be the hottest year on record. Conflicts caused nearly 50,000 deaths in 2024. By the end of that year, over 120 million people were forcibly displaced. Low- and middle-income countries faced record-high debt servicing costs of 1.4 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023, according to the report.

The document called for action across six priority areas -- food systems, energy access, digital transformation, education, jobs and social protection, and climate and biodiversity action.

UN Secretary-General Antonia Guterres underlined at the launch of the report a global development emergency "measured in the over 800 million people still living in extreme poverty, in intensifying climate impacts, and in relentless debt service, draining the resources that countries need to invest in their people."

The secretary-general noted that the report shows that the SDGs are still within reach, "but only if we act -- with urgency, unity, and unwavering resolves."

Responding to a question from China Media Group (CMG) reporter on the impact of the Trump administration's reversion of policies, which concern international financial institutions, clean energy and tariffs, and the progress in the SDGs, Guterres said that he's positive about the development of clean energy, while stressing the importance of a "rational global trade system."

"First of all, about clean energy, we are witnessing an irreversible movement towards the hegemonic role of renewables. I'm optimistic about the capacity of renewable energy to very quickly assume the leading role in the global economy. About trade, it is clear that any trade war is something in which nobody wins -- everybody loses. And so, I strongly believe that it is absolutely essential to avoid trade wars. And we don't know yet what is going to happen, anything is changing every day, but I hope we come to the end of this with a rational global trade system," said Guterres.

While introducing the report, UN Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs Li Junhua called for "urgent multilateralism" to address the lack of progress in the SDGs. "The challenges we face are inherently global and interconnected. No country, regardless of its wealth or capacity, can address climate change, pandemic preparedness or inequality alone. The 2030 Agenda represents our collective recognition that our destinies are intertwined and that sustainable development is not a zero-sum game, but a shared endeavor that benefits all," said Li.

"This moment demands what I call 'urgent multilateralism' -- a renewed commitment to international cooperation based on evidence, equity and mutual accountability. It means treating the SDGs not as aspirational goals but as non-negotiable commitments to current and future generations," he said.

A video featuring a former member of Unit 731, a notorious Japanese germ-warfare unit during World War II (WWII), was released on Thursday in northeast China's Harbin, revealing details of how the unit used meteorological data to conduct horrific bacterial experiments on human beings.

The video was released by the Exhibition Hall of Evidence of Crimes Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army, in which former Unit 731 member Tsuruo Nishijima detailed how the unit used meteorological data to carry out a bacterial dispersal experiment.

The video was recorded in 1997 by Japanese scholar Fuyuko Nishisato and donated to the exhibition hall in 2019, according to the hall, which was built on the former site of the headquarters of Unit 731 in Harbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang Province.

Jin Shicheng, director of the Department of Publicity, Education and Exhibition of the exhibition hall, said that Nishijima joined Unit 731 in October 1938 and served in the unit's meteorological squad. The squad was not a simple observation section but rather an auxiliary force supporting the unit's field human experiments by measuring wind direction, wind speed, and other conditions to ensure optimal experimental results, according to Jin.

Nishijima confirmed in the footage that "the meteorological squad had to be present at every field experiment." He testified to the "rainfall experiments" conducted by Unit 731, which involved aircraft releasing bacterial agents at extremely low altitudes.

At a field-testing site in Anda City, Heilongjiang, Unit 731 aircraft descended to about 50 meters above the ground. They sprayed bacterial culture liquids onto "maruta" -- human test subjects -- who were tied to wooden stakes. Each experiment involved about 30 people, spaced roughly 5 meters apart. After the experiments, the victims were loaded into sealed trucks and transported back to the unit, where their symptoms and disease progression were recorded over a period of several days.

"Unit 731's bacterial weapons were dropped by aircraft from a height of 50 meters in the open air. Therefore, the meteorological squad needed to observe wind direction and speed, which directly affected the precision and accuracy of the bacterial weapons deployment," said Jin.

Nishijima recounted the harrowing experience of the human test subjects.

"They were fully aware that inhaling the substances would certainly lead to death, so they closed their eyes and held their breath to avoid breathing them in. Their resistance prevented the experiment from proceeding. To compel them to comply, they were forced at gunpoint to open their mouths and lift their heads," said Nishijima.

These experiments, disguised as "scientific research," were in fact systematic tests of biological warfare weapons conducted by the Japanese military. The data generated from these inhumane activities became "research findings" shared among the Japanese army medical school, the medical community, and the military at large.

"At that time, the entire Japanese medical community tacitly approved, encouraged, and even participated in the criminal acts of Unit 731. The unit comprised members from Japan's medical and academic sectors who served the Japanese war of aggression against China. Thus, Unit 731 was not just a military unit but represented an organized and systematic criminal enterprise operating from the top down," said Jin.

Unit 731 was a top-secret biological and chemical warfare research base established in Harbin as the nerve center for Japanese biological warfare in China and Southeast Asia during WWII.

At least 3,000 people were used for human experiments by Unit 731, and Japan's biological weapons killed more than 300,000 people in China.

Video offers details of Japan's germ-warfare crimes in northeast China