COVID halted sustainable-development progress in Italy

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 9 - The COVID-19 pandemic slowed Italy's progress in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a report by statistics agency ISTAT said on Monday.
    The SDGs, which were set up in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly, are 17 interlinked global goals aimed at achieving "a better and more sustainable future for all" by 2030.
    ISTAT's annual SDGs report said the proportion of sustainability criteria in improvement in 2020 with respect to 2019 was 42.5% while 37% were deteriorating.
    In 2019, on the other hand, the proportion of criteria in improvement with respect to 10 years previously was 60.5%, while 19.1% were unchanged and 20.5% were deteriorating.
    The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned in a report on Monday that human activity was changing the Earth's climate in ways that are "unprecedented" for thousands of years, adding that some changes were now inevitable and irreversible.
    It said temperatures are likely to rise by more than 1.5° above pre-industrial levels within two decades.
    It said huge reductions in greenhouse gases this decade were the only way to avert a full-blown climate breakdown. (ANSA).