China Achieves Significant Progress on Sustainable Development Goals: 60% of Indicators Close to or Meet 2030 Targets

China has made remarkable strides toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with 60.5 percent of its 233 tracked indicators either on track or already achieved, according to the Big Earth Data in Support of the Sustainable Development Goals: Special Report for a Decade of the SDGs ("the Report"), released on the UN website on September 27, 2025. In contrast, global progress remains uneven, with only 16.9 percent of 59 monitored indicators on track to meet 2030 targets, 27 advancing slowly, five stalled, and 17 regressing.

Drafted by the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS) with over 40 research institutions, the Report integrates remote sensing, ground observations, statistical surveys, and international datasets to monitor global performance on seven SDGs and China's achievements across all goals between 2015 and 2024.

The cover of the Big Earth Data in Support of the Sustainable Development Goals: Special Report for a Decade of the SDGs. (Image by AIR)

The Report reveals that global progress is lagging behind the expected trajectory. Among the 59 indicators monitored, only 16.9 percent are on track to be achieved by 2030, while 27 are progressing slowly, 5 have stagnated, and 17 have regressed. Hunger is persisting worldwide as undernourishment and food insecurity continue to rise, although agricultural labor productivity has increased by 8 percent. Safe drinking water and sanitation remain critical challenges, with freshwater environments under growing pressure and submerged vegetation in shallow lakes declining rapidly. Access to clean energy and energy efficiency goals are advancing slowly, while international clean energy financing has declined. Health risks are intensifying, with average heat-related mortality in major cities of the Global South rising from 0.29 percent to 0.36 percent between 2015 and 2024. Ocean conservation and sustainable use are lagging, with eutrophic coastal waters expanding at a rate of about 6,300 square kilometers per year from 2015 to 2024. Land degradation is worsening as well: between 2015 and 2022, the proportion of degraded land increased by 3.38 percent, equivalent in area to about 2.6 times Indonesia.

Meanwhile, China has made significant progress. By 2024, 141 out of 233 indicators—representing 60.5 percent—were close to or had already met the 2030 targets. China leads in renewable energy, accounting for 39 percent of global wind power installations and over two-thirds of new capacity added in 2024. Over 90 percent of urban residents now have convenient access to public transport, and all provincial governments have implemented disaster reduction strategies ahead of schedule. Forest cover exceeds 25 percent, plantations rank among the world’s largest, and air quality has improved, with PM2.5 levels falling 30.2 percent. The average mass of floating marine debris decreased by 71.13% in 2020–2024 compared with 2015–2019, water stress eased from 73.3 to 61.7 percent, and agricultural productivity more than doubled over the decade.

China's achievements also extend internationally. Between 2015 and 2024, Africa's rice planting area increased 15.7 percent—over one-fifth of global growth—through China–Africa cooperation. The investment recovery cycle of photovoltaic power generation has reached or approached that of conventional coal and hydropower in roughly 75% of regions worldwide, mainly driven by Chinese innovation and large-scale production.

GUO Huadong, Director of CBAS and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the Report not only provides a scientific summary of the past decade's progress, but also delivers precise data support and decision-making references for implementing the 2030 Agenda. Looking ahead, we will deepen the application of Big Earth Data in multi-scale monitoring, scenario simulation, and policy optimization, develop more efficient, transparent, and interoperable evaluation tools, enhance multi-source data integration and AI-enabled analysis, and work together to build a new scientific paradigm for global sustainable development.

Professor Guo Huadong speaking at the press conference for the Report. (Image by AIR)

With just five years remaining until 2030, the Report urges countries to expand shared data infrastructure, integrate monitoring with policy simulation, and pursue cross-goal governance in climate, energy, and ecosystems.

A scene of the press conference. (Image by AIR)