SDG Goals
Responsible consumption and production
A rag-picker sorts recyclable dry waste at a waste management centre in India, where it is baled, stored and sent to factories, supporting waste management and recycling.
© UNICEF/Faisal MagrayInternational cooperation strengthens the sound management of chemicals and waste
International cooperation on hazardous chemicals and waste is strengthening. Under the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions – multilateral environmental agreements that together address the movement, trade and elimination of hazardous chemicals and waste – informationsharing, compliance and technical cooperation have improved steadily. Achievement scores rose between the 2014 baseline and the 2020–2024 reporting period: from 63 to 73 per cent for the Basel Convention, 70 to 79 per cent for the Rotterdam Convention, and 53 to 56 per cent for the Stockholm Convention. Progress has also been supported by stronger implementation of the prior informed consent procedure, which requires countries to agree before hazardous chemicals can be exported to them.
Progress on mercury pollution is also advancing. The Minamata Convention on Mercury – a global treaty aimed at protecting human health and the environment from mercury pollution – completed its second full national reporting cycle in 2026, with 115 of the 151 required parties submitting reports covering 2021–2024, a 76 per cent submission rate. These reports feed directly into the Convention’s first effectiveness evaluation, providing the evidence base needed for assessing whether mercury pollution is declining and guiding future action.
The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer continues to set the standard for international environmental compliance, maintaining a 100 per cent annual reporting rate. That consistency has been central to the recovery of the ozone layer.
More countries are adopting tools to monitor sustainable tourism, but gaps remain
Between 2015 and 2024, 56 per cent of countries compiled at least one of the two internationally agreed tools for tracking tourism sustainability: the Tourism Satellite Account, which measures tourism’s contribution to the economy, and the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA), which integrates economic and environmental data to assess tourism’s broader impact on natural resources and ecosystems. The number of countries applying these tools rose by 77 per cent between 2024 and 2025 reporting cycles – from 30 to 53 countries – reflecting strengthening national statistical systems.
However, progress is not evenly shared across regions. Coverage is highest in Australia and New Zealand, where it reached 100 per cent, followed by Europe and Northern America (82 per cent), and Eastern and South-Eastern Asia (75 per cent). Coverage fell to just 35 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa, with SIDS and LDCs lagging furthest behind at 27 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively. Without better data and tools to monitor it, sustainable tourism development will remain uneven across regions.
Global material consumption continues to rise, with the gap between rich and poor nations remaining vast
Domestic material consumption (DMC) measures materials directly used within an economy, including those that are extracted and imported, and excluding exports. Between 2015 and 2022, global DMC rose by 25 per cent, from 92.1 to 115.1 billion tons, with per capita consumption rising from 12.3 to 14.4 tons. This upward trend spans all income levels, signalling that decoupling economic growth from resource use remains an unmet challenge worldwide.
Yet consumption remains highly unequal: 80 per cent of all global materials were consumed by half of the world’s population living in higher-income countries. Without a major shift toward resource efficiency and more sustainable consumption patterns, the SDG target on sustainable resource management will remain out of reach by 2030.
Fossil fuel subsidies decline but remain far above pre-pandemic levels
Fossil fuel subsidies are one of the most significant barriers to the world’s transition to clean energy, and while originally intended to aid vulnerable households, subsidies often disproportionately benefit wealthier people, who consume more energy than lower-income households. By artificially lowering prices, they also discourage sustainable consumption and divert public funds away from sustainable development priorities.
While global fossil fuel subsidies fell 10 per cent between 2023 and 2024, from $1.03 trillion to over $921 billion – the second consecutive drop from the 2022 peak of $1.66 trillion – the figure is well above the pre-pandemic low of $402 billion recorded in 2020. The global decline is less a reflection of deliberate reform than the result of the unwinding of emergency support measures introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsidies declined in most regions, with Europe and Northern America leading at a 21.9 per cent drop, followed by sub-Saharan Africa at 20.2 per cent. Central and Southern Asia was the only region to buck the trend, with subsidies rising by 10.2 per cent.
Despite numerous pledges to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, data show minimal action. Country-level reporting remains limited to track progress reliably, highlighting the need for stronger methodologies and greater support for building reporting capacity across countries.
Estimate of fossil fuel subsidies, 2010–2024 (billions of dollars)
E-waste surges while progress on reducing food loss and waste stalls
Food loss, food waste and electronic waste continue to impose major environmental and economic costs, and progress on all three is falling short. Global e-waste reached 65 million tons in 2023 (8.1 kg per capita), making it one of the fastest-growing waste streams worldwide, yet only 15.5 million tons were formally recycled. Much of the remainder is often improperly disposed of, creating environmental pollution and health hazards for workers and communities.
Progress on food loss, meanwhile, has been stagnant. An estimated 13.3 per cent of food produced globally was lost after harvesting and before reaching retail markets in 2023 – marginally higher than the 2015 level of 13.0 per cent. In 2022, 1.05 billion tons of food were wasted at retail, food service and household levels, equivalent to 19 per cent of all available food worldwide. Together, food loss and waste account for up to 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly $1 trillion in annual economic losses.
Cities play a critical role in reducing food waste, which accounts for roughly half of the global population and 70 per cent of food consumption. Urban areas also face growing landfill pressures that make waste reduction more urgent than ever. Japan’s experience shows what is possible: by 2023 it had achieved a 58 per cent reduction in food waste in food-related businesses and a 46 per cent reduction in households relative to 2000 levels, demonstrating the value of city-level measurement and multi-stakeholder collaboration.
Food loss, 2015 and 2023 (percentage)
*Excluding Australia and New Zealand.
Governments and businesses put sustainability frameworks in place. Now they must act on them
On paper, more governments are committing to sustainable consumption and production (SCP) and the circular economy. As of 2025, 609 policies related to SCP were submitted across 75 countries – a 16 per cent increase from the 2019–2024 period. Eight countries reported policies for the first time, reflecting expanded global engagement. Of the 86 new policies submitted in 2025, 65 per cent were national strategies and road maps, while 28 per cent were legal instruments, with circular economy and SCP measures integrated across high-impact sectors such as food systems, textiles and batteries.
More governments also put those standards into practice through sustainable public procurement, with 54 countries achieving compliant scores in 2025, up from 49 in 2022, including 13 first-time participants. Despite these advances, the main barrier is shifting from policy readiness to implementation performance. The most significant gap remains monitoring and impact measurement. Only 39 out of 54 compliant countries (72 per cent) report monitoring the value or number of sustainable contracts and only 11 (20 per cent) report monitoring sustainability outcomes.
The private sector has also expanded its commitment to sustainability – driven in part by global regulators adopting mandatory reporting. Since 2015, the number of companies issuing corporate sustainability reports has more than quadrupledds. Reporting is strongest in finance, insurance and manufacturing and is growing among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Environmental and governance disclosures remain more common than social reporting.
Progress, however, remains uneven, as developing countries and SMEs often lack the resources, technical expertise and systems needed to meet reporting requirements, risking their exclusion from global supply chains. The next challenge for countries is translating policy commitments into measurable outcomes, which will require stronger operational support, better data systems and targeted international assistance to ensure more countries can deliver on the commitments they have made on paper.