Sustainable Development Goals

Discussion Paper

May 2025

What are negative spillovers and why do they matter for the SDGs?

While the world is not on track to achieve the SDGs, some countries have performed better than others. However, several “high performing” countries have made progress on the SDGs by exporting negative social and environmental externalities as “spillovers” to other countries. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is intended to be a global...

Keywords:

Spillovers

Sustainable Development Goals

Book Chapter

April 2025

Bridging Resources, Bridging Goals: Water, Energy and Food Nexus for Integrated SDG Advancement

In Handbook of the UN Sustainable Development Goals Research and Policy

This chapter explores the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus as an integrated framework vital for advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) amidst growing global challenges. It introduces the concept of the WEF nexus, which transcends traditional resource management by emphasizing the interconnections between water, energy, and food systems...

Keywords:

water

energy and food nexus

nexus approach

integrated resource use and management

Sustainable Development Goals

synergies and trade-offs

science-policy integration

Peer-reviewed Article

October 2024

October 2024

Three foci at the science-policy interface for systemic Sustainable Development Goal acceleration

In Nature Communications

The integrated and indivisible nature of the SDGs is facing implementation challenges due to the silo approaches. We present the three interconnected foci (SDG interactions, modeling, and tools) at the science-policy interface to address these challenges. Accounting for them will support accelerated SDG progress, operationalizing the integration...

Keywords:

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG interlinkages

SDG Interaction

SDG tools

SDG modelling

Policy Report

September 2023

Sixth ASEAN State of the Environment Report

The ASEAN State of the Environment Report (SOER) is a regular flagship publication of the ASEAN Senior Officials on Environment (ASOEN) which is periodically published every 3-5 years. The SOERs present a comprehensive review of the state and trends of the environment, the pressures on it and the drivers of those pressures, and the national and...

Keywords:

ASEAN

climate change

air pollution

Biodiversity

water

coastal ecosystems

environmental education

Circular Economy

Sustainable Development Goals

Policy Brief

April 2023

Putting Societal Well-Being at the Core of G7 Climate Strategies: Entry Points and Enabling Reforms

T7/G7 Task Force 2 Wellbeing, Environmental Sustainability, and Just Transition Policy Brief

Integrating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into climate actions is essential for a healthy planet and people. Yet, national climate policies and international climate support programs often fail to explicitly recognize the interconnections between climate concerns and other priorities covered under the SDGs. This failure can leave key...

Keywords:

societal wellbeing

climate change

Climate Policy

Sustainable Development Goals

social dimensions of SDGs

policy integration

Conference Paper

December 2022

Indicators and data gaps in measuring environment-related SDGs: Results from UNEP’s regional review of VNRs in Asia-Pacific and possible solutions

TT12 Session, 2022 International Forum for Sustainable Asia and the Pacific (ISAP)

In 2022, UNEP conducted a regional review of the Voluntary National Reviews (VNR) in Asia-Pacific covering 36 countries and 50 VNRs from an environmental perspective. For indicators, we developed a framework to review the environment-related indicators and data that were used in the VNRs. We found that t he overall coverage of the environment...

Keywords:

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG indicators and data

Voluntary National Reviews

Asia and the Pacific

Conference Proceeding

November 2022

Systemic links between COVID-19 and development: Developmental implications

JSPS-ICSSR Seminar on Understanding and Addressing Systemic Risks Behind the Socio-economic Impacts of COVID-19 in Japan and India: Developing a Roadmap for a Resilient and Sustainable Future

The COVID-19 pandemic has reversed decades of progress in many developmental areas and aggravated the already-existing gaps in implementing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Measures by countries to recover from the crisis have been varied. These measures, if designed properly and implemented efficiently, can stimulate progress in many pandemic...

Keywords:

Sustainable Development Goals

COVID-19

COVID-19 recovery

Policy development

Conference Proceeding

November 2022

Implications of the COVID-19 crisis and its recovery for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in Asia

JSPS-ICSSR Seminar on Understanding and Addressing Systemic Risks Behind the Socio-economic Impacts of COVID-19 in Japan and India: Developing a Roadmap for a Resilient and Sustainable Future

Starting as a health emergency, the COVID-19 pandemic has evolved into a global crisis impacting health, the economy, society, the environment and institutions. The crisis reveals that building a resilient and sustainable society is important and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is urgently needed. It is imperative to ensure that...

Keywords:

COVID-19

Sustainable Development Goals

COVID-19 recovery

Peer-reviewed Article

July 2022

Synergies and trade-offs between sustainable development goals and targets: innovative approaches and new perspectives

In Sustainability Science

The sustainable development goals (SDGs) were adopted by the United Nations on 25th September 2015 and are now mid-way to the target implementation deadline of 2030. A set of 17 goals with 169 targets are being used to guide all UN Member States in implementing the challenging 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. From the beginning, it was...

Keywords:

Sustainable Development Goals

synergies and trade-offs

innovative approaches

Non Peer-reviewed Article

May 2022

Adviser’s Note: May 2022

In Energy Review: The Energy and Climate Observer

Development of renewable energy (RE) systems provides a practical solution to achieve a transition towards a low-carbon society. By replacing fossil fuel-based technologies and enabling access to clean energy through decentralised energy systems, RE can generate multiple synergies with achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), particularly...

Keywords:

renewable energy

Sustainable Development Goals

climate-SDGs synergies