The article "Overlooked uneven progress across sustainable development goals at the global scale: Challenges and opportunities" by Yali Liu et al. examines the uneven progress in achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) globally and its implications for sustainable development. The study introduces the concept of "SDGs progress evenness" to quantify the differences in progress across SDGs, highlighting that these differences are associated with significant public health risks, social inequalities, and environmental degradation. Key findings include: 1. **Public Health and Social Inequality**: Low SDGs progress evenness is linked to higher mortality rates for neonates and young children, age-standardized death rates from air pollution, gender inequality, modern slavery, and wealth gaps. 2. **Environmental Degradation**: It is associated with deforestation and habitat loss in terrestrial and marine ecosystems, exacerbating biodiversity conservation challenges. 3. **Economic Performance**: Low-income countries and drylands exhibit the lowest SDGs progress evenness, while many high-income countries face stagnation or retrogression in SDGs progress evenness. 4. **Policy Implications**: The study suggests that prioritizing SDGs based on progress evenness is more realistic under multiple global stressors, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. It also highlights the need for regional collaborations, such as carbon trading between countries with different SDG performances, to promote sustainable development. The study concludes that while uneven progress across SDGs presents challenges, it also offers opportunities for international cooperation to address these issues and achieve sustainable development goals.The article "Overlooked uneven progress across sustainable development goals at the global scale: Challenges and opportunities" by Yali Liu et al. examines the uneven progress in achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) globally and its implications for sustainable development. The study introduces the concept of "SDGs progress evenness" to quantify the differences in progress across SDGs, highlighting that these differences are associated with significant public health risks, social inequalities, and environmental degradation. Key findings include: 1. **Public Health and Social Inequality**: Low SDGs progress evenness is linked to higher mortality rates for neonates and young children, age-standardized death rates from air pollution, gender inequality, modern slavery, and wealth gaps. 2. **Environmental Degradation**: It is associated with deforestation and habitat loss in terrestrial and marine ecosystems, exacerbating biodiversity conservation challenges. 3. **Economic Performance**: Low-income countries and drylands exhibit the lowest SDGs progress evenness, while many high-income countries face stagnation or retrogression in SDGs progress evenness. 4. **Policy Implications**: The study suggests that prioritizing SDGs based on progress evenness is more realistic under multiple global stressors, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. It also highlights the need for regional collaborations, such as carbon trading between countries with different SDG performances, to promote sustainable development. The study concludes that while uneven progress across SDGs presents challenges, it also offers opportunities for international cooperation to address these issues and achieve sustainable development goals.