India’s Progress Highlighted in SDG Report 2026

India‘s Progress Highlighted in SDG Report 2026

RITURAJ PHUKAN

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. East and South Asia outperform all other regions on SDG progress and India is among the countries that show the largest rank improvements. These are among the key findings of the 11th edition of the Sustainable Development Report (SDR), released last month by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).

Global commitment to the SDGs remains strong and 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, and they have moved into active opposition to the paradigm of sustainable development and the multilateral institutions that underpin it.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

“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.”

RITURAJ PHUKAN : Founder, Indigenous People’s Climate Justice Forum; Co-Founder, Smily Academy ;National Coordinator for Biodiversity, The Climate Reality Project India; Member, IUCN Wilderness Specialist Group; Commission Member – IUCN WCPA Climate Change, IUCN WCPA Connectivity Conservation, IUCN WCPA Indigenous People and Protected Areas Specialist Groups, IUCN WCPA South Asia Region and IUCN WCPA-SSC Invasive Alien Species Task Force; Member, International Antarctic Expedition 2013; Climate Force Arctic 2019 ; Ambassador, Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary. Rituraj Phukan is the Climate Editor, Mahabahu and the  Convenor, Mahabahu Climate Forum.

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