Asia Pacific region not even moving in the right direction, UN body on Sustainable Development Goals

Asia Pacific region must speed up action on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and arrest the trends depleting its natural resources, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) said in a study, Wednesday.

The Asia and the Pacific SDG Progress Report 2020 revealed that the share of renewable energy has dropped to 16%, which was one of the lowest rates globally and that 35% of the countries in the region continued to lower their forest cover. The region also emits half of the world’s total greenhouse gas – a number which has doubled since 2000, the report added, noting the poor performance on most of the measurable environmental targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.