Interactions among Sustainable Development Goals: Knowledge for identifying multipliers and virtuous cycles

TLDR

The 17 SDGs and 169 targets, designed to be interconnected, have spurred a growing scientific community exploring their systemic interactions, which is essential for prioritizing policies that maximize synergies and manage trade‑offs. The study aims to provide context‑specific knowledge of SDG interactions to inform decision‑making and to encourage collaborative data refinement on an open‑knowledge platform for further analysis and practical application. Drawing on an extensive literature review, the authors collected, synthesized, and analyzed data about negative and positive interactions among SDG goals and targets. The analysis revealed dominant SDGs, identified systemic multipliers with greater outgoing than incoming influence, and highlighted critical sub‑networks of strongly interconnected targets that could serve as virtuous cycles to advance the 2030 Agenda.

Abstract

Abstract Developed to be interconnected by design, the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) and their 169 targets have attracted a growing scientific community committed to exploring the systemic interactions inherent to the 2030 Agenda. Understanding which SDGs influence one another (positively or negatively) is critical to prioritize and implement policies that maximize synergies between goals while navigating trade‐offs. In this way, the need for informed decision‐making urgently requires knowledge of context‐specific SDG interactions. Drawing on an extensive literature review (including scientific reports and scholarly articles), we collected, synthesized, and analyzed data about negative and positive interactions among SDG goals and targets. Based on this unique dataset, our analysis focused on three key elements of the resulting network of SDG interactions: First, we identified the most dominant SDGs in the network. Second, we identified systemic multipliers, defined as nodes with higher weighted amounts of outgoing than incoming influence. Third, we identified critical sub‐networks of strongly interconnected SDG targets, highlighting possible virtuous cycles that could serve as concrete entry points to realize the 2030 Agenda. Building on our results, a collaborative effort to add and refine data on behalf of an open‐knowledge platform could provide a solid basis for further analysis and enhanced usability in concrete contexts.