Connecting the Sustainable Development Goals by their energy inter-linkages

McCollum, D., Gomez Echeverri, L., Busch, S., Pachauri, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8138-3178, Parkinson, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4753-5198, Rogelj, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2056-9061, Krey, V. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0307-3515, Riahi, K. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7193-3498, et al. (2017). Connecting the Sustainable Development Goals by their energy inter-linkages. IIASA Working Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: WP-17-006

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Abstract

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals provide guide-posts to society as it attempts to respond to an array of pressing challenges. One of these challenges is energy; thus, the SDGs have become paramount for energy policy-making. Yet, while governments throughout the world have already declared the SDGs to be “integrated and indivisible”, there are still knowledge gaps around how the interactions between the energy SDG targets and those of the non-energy-focused SDGs might play out in different contexts. In this Perspective, we report on a systematic assessment of the relevant energy literature, which we conducted to better our understanding of key energy-related interactions between SDGs. Our analysis indicates, first, that positive interactions between the SDGs outweigh the negative ones, both in number and magnitude. Second, of relevance for the scientific community, in order to fill knowledge gaps in critical areas, there is an urgent need for inter-disciplinary research geared toward developing new data, scientific tools, and fresh perspectives. Third, of relevance for policy-making, wider efforts to promote policy coherence and integrated assessments are required to address potential policy spillovers across sectors, sustainability domains, and geographic and temporal boundaries. ‘Doing energy right’ is fundamental to the success of the SDGs, and energy scientists have a major role to play in offering guidance to the discourse.

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