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	Humanity’s future requires the urgent overhaul of the world’s existing accounting systems by UN News, OHCHR, news agencies   Jan. 2026   Humanity’s future required the urgent overhaul of the world’s existing accounting systems, says UN chief. (Guardian news, agencies)   The global economy must be radically transformed to stop it rewarding pollution and waste, UN secretary general Antonio Guterres has warned. Speaking to the Guardian after the UN hosted a meeting of leading global economists, Guterres said humanity’s future required the urgent overhaul of the world’s “existing accounting systems” he said were driving the planet to the brink of disaster.   “We must place true value on the environment and go beyond gross domestic product as a measure of human progress and wellbeing. Let us not forget that when we destroy a forest, we are creating GDP. When we overfish, we are creating GDP.”   For decades, politicians and policymakers have prioritised growth – as measured by GDP – as the overarching economic goal. But critics argue that endless, indiscriminate growth on a planet with finite resources is driving not only the climate and nature crisis but increasing inequality.   Guterres said: “Moving beyond gross domestic product is about measuring the things that really matter to people and their communities. GDP tells us the cost of everything, and the value of nothing. Our world is not a gigantic corporation. Financial decisions should be based on more than a snapshot of profit and loss.”   In January, the UN held a conference in Geneva titled Beyond GDP attended by senior economists from around the world – including Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, leading Indian economist Kaushik Basu and equity expert Nora Lustig. They are part of a group set up by Guterres that has been tasked with devising a new dashboard of measures of economic success that takes “human wellbeing, sustainability and equity” into account.   A report published by the group late last year argued that, as the world wrestled with repeated global shocks over the past two decades, the need for an economic transformation had become increasingly urgent – from the financial crash of 2008 to the Covid-19 pandemic.   It said those events were exacerbated by the “triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution” and, in addition, warned that rapid technological change was upending labour markets and exacerbating growing inequality.   Prof Basu, who co-chairs the UN group alongside Lustig, said: “Nations are so locked into the game of beating other nations in terms of the GDP metric, that the wellbeing of ordinary citizens and sustainability are getting ignored.   “If all the new income accrues to a few individuals, and the GDP grows, all citizens are expected to cheer. This is feeding hyper-nationalism, inequality and polarisation.”   Prof Lustig said GDP had never been “designed to measure human progress, yet it remains the dominant benchmark of success.”   “Economic growth can coexist with poverty, exclusion, violence, and serious violations of human rights – outcomes that remain largely invisible in conventional economic accounts … The group’s aim is not to replace GDP but to complement it, helping governments and the public assess whether development is truly improving human wellbeing, advancing equity, and safeguarding sustainability now and for future generations.”   The UN initiative follows a report published last week that said current economic models are fundamentally flawed because they failed to account of the impact of climate shocks such as extreme weather disasters and tipping points, and could crash the global economy. These concerns come amid a growing debate in academia, civil society and policy circles about how to create economic structures that are compatible with greater equality and sustainability.   http://www.un.org/beyondgdp http://news.un.org/en/story/2026/05/1167457 http://www.hrw.org/news/2026/05/21/milestone-un-reports-advocate-moving-beyond-gdp http://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2025/10/more-gdp-measuring-what-really-matters-people-and-rights http://www.thebeyondlab.org/article/event-summary-unctad16-parallel-event-beyond-gdp http://www.un.org/en/beyondGDP/documents   Jan. 2026   Economic Growth at any cost fails us All, by Olivier De Schutter - UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights. (Time Magazine)   Last week, powerful politicians and business leaders gathered in Davos, promising to “unlock new sources of growth” to solve the world’s many crises. Poverty, climate breakdown, and political instability—all, we were told, can be fixed if only we grow our economies a little faster.   It is a familiar refrain that we have seen in countless other global gatherings—from the G7 to the G20 and IMF-World bank meetings in Washington D.C., But my six years of experience as the United Nations’ expert on poverty have taught me at least one thing: it is profoundly misguided. Economic growth is no magic bullet. And it certainly won’t solve global poverty.   Historically, the global economy everyone is so desperate to grow, has funneled vast wealth into the hands of a few, trapped millions in insecure and poorly-paid work to boost corporate profits, relied on the plundering of natural resources and the exploitation of cheap labour in the Global South and has caused irreparable damage to the planet.   This is not a system that has gone slightly off course. It is one that is fundamentally unfit for purpose.   At Davos, economic growth was not defended cautiously; it was celebrated. U.S. President Donald Trump boasted of growth “no country has ever seen before." And Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, described the 3.3% global growth forecast as “beautiful but not enough. “   The response from the top, to any claims that growth may be causing more harm than good,, is to reach for “green growth”—the idea that, when done right, economic growth can be accompanied by a reduction in its ecological footprint.   China’s Vice-Premier He Lifeng’s Davos speech was littered with references to “global green and low-carbon development”, “green production capacity”, “green finance”, and a “green and prosperous future”.   Yet even under the best conditions, a growing body of evidence shows that the absolute decoupling of gross domestic product (GDP) from environmental degradation—growing the economy while simultaneously reducing resource use, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution—is impossible. Technological advances simply cannot compensate for an economic model built on ever-expanding production and consumption.   As I told the UN Human Rights Council when presenting my 2024 report on Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth, the global economy, in its current form, will only ever serve a tiny minority. And it will always do so at the expense of the planet and the vast majority of people who live on it.   Given the evidence at hand, it beggars belief that world leaders continue to shout from the mountaintops of Davos that we need yet more growth. One is left to wonder whether they—as members of the economic elite—stand to benefit personally, or if they have simply run out of imagination.   Outside the conference halls, however, imagination is very much alive. This week’s first annual Reclaim the Economy Week reflects a growing global demand for fresh thinking, with individuals and collectives uniting to demand an economy that puts people and planet first.   And a new development model is emerging on the back of my report to the UN—one that breaks from the outdated formula of prioritizing economic growth first and attempting to redistribute through taxes and transfers later.   This alternative approach to global poverty eradication is being built by a growing alliance of UN agencies, governments, civil society organisations, academics, trade unions, and others. Now, this approach is being translated into a Roadmap for Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth, which I will present to the UN later this year.   The aim of the roadmap is not abstract theory, but practical change: a set of concrete policy options for governments in both the global north and south that shift economies away from profit maximization and towards the fulfilment of human rights.   This shift requires better rewarding work according to its social and ecological value—raising wages for essential workers, while placing limits on pay in destructive industries such as fossil fuels or tobacco. And we can benefit from job-guarantee programs whereby the government guarantees a job to anyone willing and able to work.   Our approach should also include debt cancellation and restructuring, because it is indefensible that 3.4 billion people live in countries that spend more on interest payments than on health or education.   The policies detailed in our roadmap will also guide governments towards deeper structural change: reclaiming economic decision-making, bringing democratic control to the financial system through the taxation of extreme wealth and investment in care and public services; restoring and protecting the commons; supporting just transitions to renewable energy and sustainable food systems; and holding corporations accountable for environmental destruction, labour abuses, and human rights violations.   These are the bold—but achievable—measures that could positively shape the next generation of efforts to end poverty, including the globally agreed development goals that will succeed the Sustainable Development Goals in 2030. Unfortunately, these pragmatic policies will remain out of reach as long as we cling to the belief that economic growth equals human progress.   After nearly a century of being told that the most important metric in all of our lives is how fast the economy grows, this may sound radical. But it is far less reckless than continuing to defend an economic system whose rules are written by and for billionaires and multinational corporations—and then acting surprised when it fails everyone else.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/04/un-backed-roadmap-provides-blueprint-eradicating-poverty-beyond-growth-un http://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-poverty/roadmap-eradicating-poverty-beyond-growth http://www.srpoverty.org/2026/01/27/time-opinion-economic-growth-at-any-cost-fails-us-all/ http://www.neep-poverty.org/roadmap-for-eradicating-poverty-beyond-growth/ http://www.neep-poverty.org/news/ http://www.srpoverty.org/category/reports/ Visit the related web page
	The Future We Choose by UN Environment Programme, IPBES, agencies   Dec. 2025   The most comprehensive assessment of the global environment ever undertaken has found that investing in a stable climate, healthy nature and land, and a pollution-free planet can deliver trillions of dollars in additional global economic growth, avoid millions of deaths and lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and hunger.   The Global Environment Outlook, Seventh Edition: A Future We Choose (GEO-7), released during the seventh session of the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi, is the product of 287 multi-disciplinary scientists from 82 countries.   The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report finds that climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation, desertification, and pollution and waste have taken a heavy toll on the planet, people and economies – already costing trillions of dollars each year. Following current development pathways will only intensify this damage.   However, whole-of-society and whole-of-government approaches to transform the systems of economy and finance, materials and waste, energy, food and the environment would deliver global macroeconomic benefits that could reach US$20 trillion per year by 2070 and continue growing.   A key enabling factor of this approach is moving away from GDP to indicators that also track human and natural capital – incentivizing economies to move towards circularity, decarbonization of the energy system, sustainable agriculture, ecosystem restoration and more.   “The Global Environment Outlook lays out a simple choice for humanity: continue down the road to a future devastated by climate change, dwindling nature, degraded land and polluted air, or change direction to secure a healthy planet, healthy people and healthy economies. This is no choice at all,” said Inger Andersen, UNEP Executive Director.   The report highlights transformation pathways to reduce exposure to climate risks, reduce biodiversity loss and support an increase in natural lands. Nine million premature deaths can be avoided by 2050, through measures such as cutting air pollution alone.   Following the transformation pathways would require changes across five areas, the report outlines:   Economy and finance: Move beyond GDP to comprehensive inclusive wealth metrics; price positive and negative externalities to value goods correctly; and phase out and repurpose subsidies, taxes and incentives that result in negative impacts on nature.   Materials and waste: Implement circular product design, transparency and traceability of products, components and materials; shift investments to circular and regenerative business models; and shift consumption patterns towards circularity through changing mindsets.   Energy: Decarbonize the energy supply; increase energy efficiency; back social and environmental sustainability in critical mineral value chains; and address energy access and energy poverty.   Food systems: Shift to healthy and sustainable diets; enhance circularity and production efficiency; and reduce food loss and waste.   Environment: Accelerate conservation and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems; back climate adaptation and resilience, leaning on Nature-based Solutions; and implement climate mitigation strategies.   Considering diverse knowledge systems, especially Indigenous Knowledge and Local Knowledge, is crucial to just transitions that address both environmental sustainability and human well-being.   The report calls on governments, multilateral organizations and the private sector to acknowledge the urgency of global environmental crises and to act to deliver a better future for all.   Drawing on multiple sources, the report also lays out in detail the current and future consequences of business-as-usual development models.   Greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 1.5 per cent each year since 1990, reaching a new high in 2024 – raising global temperatures and intensifying climate impacts. The cost of extreme weather events attributed to climate change over the last 20 years is estimated at US$143 billion annually.   Between 20 and 40 per cent of land area worldwide is estimated to be degraded, affecting over three billion people, while one million of an estimated eight million species are threatened with extinction.   Nine million deaths are attributable annually to some form of pollution. The economic cost of health damages from air pollution alone was about US$8.1 trillion in 2019 – or around 6.1 per cent of global GDP.   The state of the environment will dramatically worsen if the world continues to power economies under a business-as-usual pathway. Without action, global mean temperature rise is likely to exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by 2030, exceed at least 2.0°C by the 2040s and keep climbing. On this path, climate change will continue to cut annual global GDP.   Land degradation is expected to continue at current rates, with the world losing fertile and productive land the size of Colombia or Ethiopia annually – at a time when climate change is reducing food availability.   The 8,000 million tonnes of plastic waste polluting the planet will continue to accumulate – driving up the estimated health-related economic losses of US$1.5 trillion attributable annually to exposure to toxic chemicals in plastics.   The multi-disciplinary group of scientists from around the world say the climate crisis, destruction of nature and pollution can no longer be seen as simply environmental crises.   “They are all undermining our economy, food security, water security, human health and they are also national security issues, leading to conflict in many parts of the world,” said Prof Robert Watson, the co-chair of the Global Environment Outlook.   All the environmental crises are worsening as the global population grows and requires more food and energy, most of which was produced in ways that pollute the planet and destroy the natural world, the experts say.   “This is an urgent call to transform our human systems now before collapse becomes inevitable,” said Prof Edgar Gutierrez-Espeleta, another co-chair and the former environment minister in Costa Rica.   “The science is good. The solutions are known. What is required is the courage to act at the scale and speed that history demands,” he said, adding that the window for action was “rapidly narrowing”.   The report contained several “critical truths”, Gutierrez-Espeleta said: environmental crises were political and security emergencies, threatening the social ties that held societies together. Today’s governments and economic systems were failing humanity and financial reform was the cornerstone of transformation, he said.   “Environmental policy must become the backbone of national security, social justice, and economic strategy.”   One of the key concerns outlined in the report is the $45 trillion a year in environmental damage caused by the burning of coal, oil and gas, and the pollution and destruction of nature caused by industrial agriculture.   These massive costs – called externalities by economists – must be priced into energy and food to reflect their real price and shift consumers towards greener choices, Prof. Watson said.   “We need social safety nets. We need to make sure that the poorest in society are not harmed by any increases in costs.”   There are also $1.5tn in environmentally harmful subsidies to fossil fuels, food and mining, the report highlights. These need to be removed or repurposed, it adds. Removing fossil fuel subsidies alone could cut emissions by up to a third.   Prof. Watson noted that wind and solar energy was cheaper in many places but was being held back by vested interests in the fossil fuel industry.   The climate crisis may be even worse than thought, he said: “We are likely to be underestimating the magnitude of climate change”, with global heating at the high end of the projections made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. An alarming prospect for much of the world.   http://www.unep.org/resources/global-environment-outlook-7 http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/09/food-fossil-fuel-production-5bn-environmental-damage-an-hour-un-geo-report- http://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1w9ge93w9po http://www.unep.org/resources/state-finance-nature-2026 http://hdr.undp.org/content/new-climate-dataset-warns-poorest-nations http://horizons.hdr.undp.org http://www.ipsnews.net/2025/12/businesses-impact-nature-on-which-they-depend-ipbes-report-finds/ http://www.ipbes.net/nexus/media-release http://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/ipbes-nexus-report-integrated-solutions-to-address-interconnected-global-crises http://www.carbonbrief.org/ipbes-nexus-report-five-takeaways-for-biodiversity-food-water-health-and-climate/ http://www.iied.org/new-biodiversity-reports-wake-call-for-action http://www.ipbes.net/transformative-change/media-release http://www.ids.ac.uk/news/new-global-report-on-transformative-change-for-biodiversity/ http://www.ipbes.net/   * A Future We Choose (GEO-7) Executive summary: http://tinyurl.com/2p6jzv22   June 2026   With fewer than five years to 2030, decisive action is needed to keep the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within reach. (UN News)   Despite progress major challenges persist. One in ten people still live in extreme poverty. Around 2.3 billion people face moderate or severe food insecurity. More than 150 million children remain stunted. Maternal mortality stands at nearly three times the global target. None of the gender equality targets are on track.   Escalating conflicts, climate change, slowing economic growth, rising debt and a record decline in official development assistance are disproportionately affecting the world’s most vulnerable people.   273 million children and young people remain out of school; one in five young people aged 15–24 is not in employment, education or training, and young people are nearly four times more likely to be unemployed than adults.   An estimated 1.16 billion people — roughly one in four urban residents — live in slums or informal settlements. Official development assistance fell by a record 23.1 per cent in 2025 — the largest annual decline ever recorded.   The Extinction risk is worsening across all species groups; protection of key biodiversity areas averaged only 45 per cent in 2025.   Violent conflict has surged to its highest level in decades. As of December 2025, more than 117.8 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide, erasing years of development gains in months.   The number of people affected by climate-related disasters has more than doubled since 2015. Global temperatures in 2025 reached 1.43°C above pre-industrial levels and atmospheric carbon dioxide hit its highest concentration in two million years..   June 2026   Despite Geopolitical Headwinds and Slow Progress, Global Commitment to the SDGs Holds Strong. (SDSN)   With less than four years remaining in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remains significantly off track: Only 16% of targets are projected to be achieved by the deadline.   The vast majority of UN Member States remain committed to the framework, but a small number of countries, most notably the United States, have moved into active opposition to the paradigm of sustainable development and the multilateral institutions that underpin it.   These are among the key findings of the 11th edition of the Sustainable Development Report (SDR), released by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).   This year’s SDR calls for stronger SDG implementation and renewed global cooperation as the world enters the final years of the 2030 Agenda and begins laying the groundwork for a post-2030 framework.   The report includes the SDG Index and Dashboards, ranking all UN Member States across the 17 SDGs, and the Index of Countries’ Support for UN-Based Multilateralism (UN-Mi), which tracks countries’ engagement with the UN system.   The report also features two new surveys: 1) The “SDSN Expert Survey on Government Efforts for the SDGs” and 2) a large-scale public survey spanning 127 countries on “SDG Challenges and Means for Implementation.” Together, they reveal broad public support for maintaining the SDG framework beyond 2030, while also exposing significant regional and country-level disparities in governance, policy effort, and implementation capacity.   Across respondents, stronger mechanisms for financing, governance, and the use of science and data emerged as the top priorities for accelerating sustainable progress by 2030 and beyond.   “Support for sustainable development as the global paradigm remains strong throughout the world. Notable success stories have emerged across East and South Asia and in many other countries and regions. Sustainable development cannot be achieved amid ongoing conflict, making peace the top priority of our time,” said Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, President of the SDSN and a lead author of the report.   “As the 2030 landmark approaches, the next era of sustainable development must put the global emphasis on implementation and ensuring strong financing and effective governance at all levels."   "The 2030 Agenda was always an ambitious undertaking, and today's geopolitical headwinds are testing the resilience of the multilateral system," said Dr. Guillaume Lafortune, Vice President of the SDSN and a lead author and coordinator of the report.   "The moment calls for all countries to reaffirm the principles of the UN Charter, starting with Article 1, and to cooperate in building a credible global and regional security architecture. The next era of sustainable development must prioritize implementation through a reformed Global Financial Architecture, greater involvement of continental, regional, and local institutions, but also a central role for civil society and universities in driving accountability, innovation, and solutions on the ground.”   This year’s SDR highlights the following key findings:   Global commitment to the SDGs remains strong. A large majority of countries continue to support UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions referencing sustainable development, with more than 170 of the 193 UN Member States backing all of these resolutions in 2025.   Argentina and the United States were the only countries to consistently vote against resolutions linked to the sustainable development framework.   East and South Asia outperform all other regions on SDG progress. East and South Asian countries have recorded the strongest SDG progress since 2015. Among major economies, India (+18) and China (+14) show the largest rank improvements. Finland leads this year’s SDG Index, followed by Sweden and Denmark.   However, even these top performers face significant challenges on SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 14 (Life Below Water), and SDG 15 (Life on Land), partly due to unsustainable consumption patterns and negative international spillover effects.   Goals related to cities, the environment, sustainable agri-food systems, and peace are particularly off-track. Among these, the most concerning are SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 14 (Life Below Water), SDG 15 (Life on Land), and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions).   At the indicator level, the areas furthest from their targets include progress toward sustainable agriculture (SDG 2), the prevalence of obesity (SDG 3), as well as the timeliness of administrative proceedings, press freedom, and the Corruption Perceptions Index (SDG 16).   In contrast, several indicators are showing some progress at the global level. These include rising mobile broadband subscriptions and internet use (SDG 9), declining adolescent fertility rates and HIV infections (SDG 3), and expanded electricity access (SDG 7).   Barbados ranks first in commitment to UN-based multilateralism, while the U.S. ranks last. Barbados ranks as the country most committed to UN-based multilateralism in the SDR’s 2026 Index of Countries’ Support to UN-based Multilateralism (UN-Mi), which assesses countries’ engagement with the UN system and their support for SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) using six headline indicators.   At the opposite end of the Index, the U.S. ranks last. This is highlighted in recent actions from the U.S. federal government, which withdrew from more than 60 international organizations in January 2026; voted with the international majority in only 5% of recorded UNGA votes in 2025; and formally opposes the SDGs, the 2030 Agenda, and the Paris Climate Agreement.   Strengthening implementation is the defining priority for the next era of sustainable development.   In 2026, the SDSN surveyed its networks across 64 countries and the European Union, alongside over 1,000 respondents from 127 countries, to assess government efforts and barriers to SDG implementation.   Respondents broadly support maintaining the SDG framework beyond 2030, pointing to financing, governance, and the use of science and data as the areas most in need of strengthening.   Views on progress vary significantly by region, with East and South Asia reporting more optimistic assessments of national and local SDG performance.   The report identifies eight priorities to accelerate progress toward 2030 and beyond:   (1) end ongoing wars and redirect military expenditures toward peace and human development; (2) establish an ambitious timeline for SDG implementation; (3) organize implementation around six major transformations; (4) adopt long-term investment plans to support these transformations; (5) strengthen continental, regional, and local cooperation and investment; (6) introduce new global taxes to finance global public goods; (7) develop global governance frameworks for AI, biotechnology, and other emerging technologies; and (8) establish new UN campuses in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.   * The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) has been operating since 2012 under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General. The SDSN mobilizes global scientific and technological expertise to promote practical solutions for sustainable development, including the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement.   http://www.unsdsn.org/news/despite-geopolitical-headwinds-and-slow-progress-global-commitment-to-the-sdgs-holds-strong/ http://sdgtransformationcenter.org/reports/sustainable-development-report-2026 Visit the related web page
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