Asia Pacific – Environmental decline and inequality threaten region’s development progress Launch of the Asia-Pacific SDG Progress Report 2026

Source: United Nations – ESCAP

Report Highlights:

• At its current pace, Asia and the Pacific risks missing 88% of measurable SDG targets by 2030.
• UN warns that gains in reducing poverty, improving health and well-being, and driving rapid industrialization are being overshadowed by widening inequality and severe environmental decline.    
• While data availability for SDG indicators has improved, reaching an average of 55% in 2025, critical gaps remain.

The very engines of growth that once lifted millions out of poverty and fuelled rapid industrialization are now undermining the future of Asia and the Pacific. The region is on an unsustainable trajectory. Gains in several areas such as reducing poverty, good health and well-being, and industry, innovation and infrastructure are being overshadowed by widening inequality and severe environmental decline, particularly in climate action, biodiversity and the health of our cities. This imbalance threatens the most vulnerable and risks reversing decades of hard-won progress.

The upcoming Asia-Pacific SDG Progress Report 2026 calls for urgent efforts to embed climate action, environmental protection and resource efficiency into core development planning, alongside stronger action to reduce inequality and expand decent work opportunities.  

Key Speakers:

  Shombi Sharp
 Deputy Executive Secretary of ESCAP

  Rachael Beaven  
 Director of the Statistics Division, ESCAP

  Arman Bidarbakht Nia
 Head of Statistical Data Management Unit, ESCAP