Worldwide, only one in five objectives of the Agenda 2030, drawn up by the United Nations ten years ago, is on track, while Italy is worsening on six of the seventeen goals and Europe is losing ground on the social and environmental front. The tenth ASviS report, entitled Peace, justice and rights: pillars of sustainability, portrays a planet in crisis of governance, inequality and trust. According to the document, only 18 per cent of the Agenda 2030 targets will be achieved by the deadline, while for more than 30 per cent no progress is being recorded or there is even regression.

ASviS ✓ @ASviSItalia

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Questo decimo #RapportoASviS non solo denuncia le distanze enormi tra le promesse dei governi e i risultati concreti, ma espone anche numerose proposte per accelerare il cammino dell'Italia verso lo sviluppo sostenibile. Scopri di più👉🏻asvis.it/rapporto-asvis…

♥ 2 22 ott 2025 · Apri su X →

The international picture is marked by 59 active conflicts, almost 50,000 civilian casualties in 2024, 123 million displaced people ("double in ten years, the result of the many ongoing conflicts, some hanging by a very fragile peace and others where peace is nowhere in sight", underlines Chiara Cardoletti, UNHCR representative for Italy), military spending that has reached a record 2,700 billion dollars. At the same time, funds for the United Nations system have collapsed by 30 per cent in two years, undermining humanitarian response capacity. Yet, as the Alliance writes and scientific director Enrico Giovannini reiterates, "we are not blind. Nor stupid: we understand the global difficulties, but we do not justify the unworthy motivations that concentrate power and wealth in the hands of a few, fuelling wars and disinformation".

A reflection that brings attention back to the need to "accelerate" action to reconcile peace, environment and rights. As for positive signals, at the global level some progress remains on renewable energy and climate policies in certain countries, and multilateral diplomacy that produced initiatives in 2024–25 (Patto sul futuro, Impegno di Siviglia) that keep spaces for collective action open.

Agenda 2030, the EU loses its sustainability leadership

Against this global backdrop, the European Union too, once a world-leading example, now shows strong inconsistencies. Looking at the 19 quantitative targets examined, 10 (53 per cent) are achievable by 2030, while 7 (37 per cent) do not appear achievable and two show conflicting trends between the short and long term. Results are improving on renewable energy, business and innovation, sustainable cities and the fight against climate change, but policies on inequality, terrestrial ecosystems and international cooperation are falling back. ASviS denounces the contradictions between declared commitments and the concrete choices of the new European Commission, from the growth in military spending to the downward revisions of certain environmental and social regulations, through to simplifications in sustainability reporting that risk weakening the Green Deal. The blame, according to European Commissioner Raffaele Fitto, who took part via video link, should be attributed to "objective difficulties — we are conditioned by what has happened over the last 6-7 years, from the pandemic to the ongoing wars": true, but the issue also concerns the choices being made.

• Where Europe is improving: more significant results are recorded for renewable energy, employment, business and innovation, sustainable cities and the fight against climate change.
• Where it is falling back: key indicators linked to inequality, quality of terrestrial ecosystems and international partnerships are retreating.

Italy slows down, amid inequality and structural delays

For Italy, the report paints an even more critical picture. From 2010 to today, there is a worsening on six out of 17 objectives – poverty, water and sanitation, inequality, life on land, peace and strong institutions, partnership – and a substantial standstill on four others, while improvements concern only six goals (including education, gender equality, clean energy, decent work and climate).

ASviS ✓ @ASviSItalia

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𝗟'𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮 𝟮𝟬𝟯𝟬 𝗶𝗻 𝗜𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗮: 𝘂𝗻 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗱𝗿𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲. 𝗖𝗼𝗻 𝗴𝗹𝗶 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶 𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶 𝗲̀ 𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗴𝗶𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗼 𝗶𝗹 𝟮𝟵% 𝗱𝗲𝗶 𝗧𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁.
📍Rispetto al 2010:
🔴sei Goal peggiorano:

♥ 1 22 ott 2025 · Apri su X →

The overall picture is clear: only 29 per cent of Italy's targets will be reached by 2030, against a European average of 53 per cent and a global figure of 18 per cent, a sign of a structural slowdown that reflects inequality, institutional fragility and a lack of coherence in public policies. ASviS speaks of an "absence of coherence" between international commitments and national economic policies, recalling that the National Strategy for Sustainable Development of 2022 has remained largely unimplemented.

Among the positive signals are advances in the circular economy, where Italy remains a leader with a recycling rate of 72 per cent, almost double the EU average, and in the energy transition, with 36 per cent of consumption covered by renewables. A figure that is nonetheless insufficient, according to Minister of the Environment and Energy Security Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, who is not yet prepared to give the go-ahead for the dismantling of coal-fired power plants, "because no one can guarantee that 10 billion cubic metres of gas will always arrive from the TAP, or 25 from Algeria". But serious issues persist: 5.7 million people in absolute poverty, a third of terrestrial species threatened, lengthy court proceedings and fragility in public governance, as well as poor management of water resources and ecosystems.

Sustainability is not a nuisance

The report does not limit itself to analysis, but points a direction. The Alliance proposes launching by 2026 a Transformative Acceleration Plan (PAT) that unites economic, social and environmental policies within a single vision, integrating the National Strategy for Sustainable Development with the Structural Budget Plan, the five-year document setting out the programming of public finance integrated with the plan of reforms and investments. The priorities are articulated around five transformative levers – governance, human capital, finance, culture and partnership – and six strategic areas: health, education and skills, sustainable and inclusive economy, decarbonisation, regenerative cities and protection of environmental common goods.

ASviS ✓ @ASviSItalia

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.@GPichetto @MASE_IT: sviluppo e ricerca, innovazione e tecnologia sono fondamentali nel raggiungimento degli #SDGs. Forti ancora le differenze territoriali per la questione ambientale. #RapportoASviS

♥ 2 22 ott 2025 · Apri su X →

As president Marcella Mallen recalled, "Italy still has the opportunity to transform the commitments it has made at the international level into policies capable of making a real difference in people's lives. I am thinking, for example, of the Generational Impact Assessment (Vig) currently under parliamentary discussion, which would analyse the long-term effects of public policies on younger generations." ASviS is also calling for a reform of sustainable development governance and greater involvement of civil society, in order to make policies coherent and participatory. "Sustainability is not a nuisance, but an investment in the present and the future," warned scientific director Enrico Giovannini: according to the former minister, "Italy continues to fail to equip itself with adequate policies, while Europe is making wrong choices and is losing the leading role it had taken on in recent years." And president Pierluigi Stefanini reiterated that "strengthening democracy is today a priority: genuinely inclusive participatory processes are needed, ones that allow citizens and local communities to influence public decisions." The priorities remain decarbonisation, social justice, democratic participation and the protection of environmental common goods, in order to guarantee, as the Alliance writes, "a future of peace and sustainability for present and future generations."