Focus on Sustainable Development Goal Interactions Across Socio-Economic and Environmental Dimensions

Transportation infrastructure is considered a key factor for economic development and poverty alleviation. The United Nations have explicitly included the provision of transport infrastructure access, e.g. through all-season road access, in their Sustainable Development Goal agenda (SDGs, target 9.1). Yet, little is known about the number of people lacking access to roads worldwide, the costs of closing existing access gaps and the implications of additional roads for other sustainability concerns such as climate change mitigation (SDG-13). Here we quantify, for 250 countries and territories, the percentage of population without road access in 2 km. We find that infrastructure investments required to provide quasi-universal road access are about USD 3 trillion. We estimate that the associated cumulative CO₂ emissions from construction work and additional traffic until the end of the century amount to roughly 16 Gt. Our geographically explicit global analysis provides a starting point for refined regional studies and for the quantification of further environmental and social implications of SDG-9.1.

Synergies and trade-offs exist between climate mitigation actions and target indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Some studies have assessed such relationships, but the degree of such interaction remains poorly understood. Here, we show the SDG implications associated with CO₂ emissions reductions. We developed 'marginal SDG-emissions-reduction values (MSVs)', which represent the marginal impacts on SDG indicators caused by a unit CO₂ emissions reduction. This metric is applicable to national assessments and was applied to Asia. We found clear relationships between CO₂ emissions reduction rates and many SDG targets. For instance, 1% reduction of CO₂ can avoid 0.57% of air pollution-related premature deaths (SDG3), whereas the mean species richness (SDG15) is decreased by 0.026% with the same reduction (not including climate change impacts). Our findings are useful for assessing the SDG implications associated with CO₂ emissions reduction targets, which will help inform national climate policies.

The role of energy in social and economic development is recognised by sustainable development goal 7 that targets three aspects of energy access: ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services, substantially increase the share of renewable energy, and double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency. With the projected increase in population, income and energy access in sub-Saharan Africa, demand for energy services is expected to increase. This increase can be met through increasing the supply while at the same time improving households' energy efficiency. In this paper, we explore the interactions between the three SDG7 targets by applying two integrated assessment models, IMAGE and MESSAGE, that incorporate socio-economic heterogeneity of the end-user. The results of the study depict the synergistic relationships between the three SDG7 objectives. Relative to pursuing only the universal access target, integration of all three targets could (a) reduce residential final energy consumption by up to 25%, enabling the use of mini-grid and stand-alone systems to provide better energy services, (b) cut annual energy-use-related residential emissions by a third, and (c) lower energy related investments by up to 30% to save scarce finance.

The link between energy use, social and environmental well-being is at the root of critical synergies between clean and affordable energy (SDG7) and other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Household-level quantitative energy analyses enable better understanding regarding interconnections between the level and composition of energy use, and SDG achievement. This study examines the household-level energy footprints in Nepal, Vietnam, and Zambia. We calculate the footprints using multi-regional input–output with energy extensions based on International Energy Agency data. We propose an original perspective on the links between household final energy use and well-being, measured through access to safe water, health, education, sustenance, and modern fuels. In all three countries, households with high well-being show much lower housing energy use, due to a transition from inefficient biomass-based traditional fuels to efficient modern fuels, such as gas and electricity. We find that households achieving well-being have 60%–80% lower energy footprint of residential fuel use compared to average across the countries. We observe that collective provisioning systems in form of access to health centers, public transport, markets, and garbage disposal and characteristics linked to having solid shelter, access to sanitation, and minimum floor area are more important for the attainment of well-being than changes in income or total energy consumption. This is an important finding, contradicting the narrative that basic well-being outcomes require increased income and individual consumption of energy. Substantial synergies exist between the achievement of well-being at a low level of energy use and other SDGs linked to poverty reduction (encompassed in SDG1), health (SDG3), sanitation (SDG6), gender equality (SDG5), climate action and reduced deforestation (SDG 13 and SDG15) and inequalities (SDG10).

The recently proposed Green Deals and 'building back better' plans have affirmed the importance to make green transitions inclusive. This is particularly related to the labour market, which may witness significant changes. Empirically, this issue has until now received limited attention. The links between poverty and climate change are explored mainly through the lenses of climate change adaptation, or via the effects of rising energy prices on the purchasing power of poor households. We aim to address this gap by using results from a simulation of the global energy transition required to meet the 2-degree target, and compare this to a 6-degree baseline scenario. The simulation with a multi-regional input–output model finds that, overall, this transition results in a small net job increase of 0.3% globally, with cross-country heterogeneity. We complement this macro-level analysis with cross-country household data to draw implications of the effects on poverty through labour market outcomes. The few job losses will be concentrated in specific industries, while new jobs will be created in industries that currently witness relatively high in-work poverty rates, such as construction. We show that high in-work poverty in the industries of interest, and especially in middle-income countries, is often associated with low skills and an insufficient reach of social protection mechanisms. We conclude that green transitions must ensure that the jobs created are indeed decent including fair wages, adequate working conditions, sufficient social protection measures, and accessible to the vulnerable and poorest households.

Low-carbon pathways consistent with the 2 °C and 1.5 °C long-term climate goals defined in the Paris Agreement are likely to induce substantial co-benefits for air pollution and associated health impacts. In this analysis, using five global integrated assessment models, we quantify the emission reductions in key air pollutants resulting from the decarbonization of energy systems and the resulting changes in premature mortality attributed to the exposure to ambient concentrations of fine particulate matter. The emission reductions differ by sectors. Sulfur emissions are mainly reduced from power plants and industry, cuts in nitrogen oxides are dominated by the transport sector, and the largest abatement of primary fine particles is achieved in the residential sector. The analysis also shows that health benefits are the largest when policies addressing climate change mitigation and stringent air pollution controls are coordinated. We decompose the key factors that determine the extent of health co-benefits, focusing on Asia: changes in emissions, urbanization rates, population growth and ageing. Demographic processes, particularly due to ageing population, counteract in many regions the mortality reductions realized through lower emissions.

Rainfall and irrigation trigger large pulses of the powerful greenhouse gas N₂O from intensively managed pastures, produced via multiple, simultaneously occurring pathways. These N₂O pulses can account for a large fraction of total N₂O losses, demonstrating the importance to determine magnitude and source partitioning of N₂O under these conditions. This study investigated the response of different pathways of N₂O production to wetting across three different textured pasture soils. Soil microcosms were fertilised with an ammonium nitrate (NH₄NO₃) solution which was either single or double ¹⁵N labelled, wetted to four different water-filled pore space (WFPS) levels, and incubated over two days. The use of a ¹⁵N pool mixing model together with soil N gross transformations enabled the attribution of N₂O to specific pathways, and to express N₂O emissions as a fraction of the underlying N transformation. Denitrification and nitrification mediated pathways contributed to the production of N₂O in all soils, regardless of WFPS. Denitrification was the main pathway of N₂O production accounting for >50% of cumulative N₂O emissions even at low WFPS. The contribution of autotrophic nitrification to N₂O emissions decreased with the amount of wetting, while the contribution of heterotrophic nitrification remained stable or increased. Following the hole-in-the-pipe model, 0.1%–4% of nitrified N was lost as N₂O, increasing exponentially with WFPS, while the percentage of denitrified N emitted as N₂O decreased, providing critical information for the representation of N₂O/WFPS relationships in simulation models. Our findings demonstrate that the wetting of pasture soils promotes N₂O production via denitrification and via the oxidation of organic N substrates driven by high carbon and N availability upon wetting. The large contribution of heterotrophic nitrification to N₂O emissions should be considered when developing N₂O abatement strategies, seeking to reduce N₂O emissions in response to rainfall and irrigation from intensively managed pastures.

India needs to address the immediate concerns of water supply and demand, due to its increasing population, rapid urbanization, and growing industrialization. Additionally, the changing climate will influence water resources, which will subsequently impact the overall sectoral end-use demand patterns. In this study, we have integrated a water module with the existing bottom-up, techno-economic Asia–Pacific Integrated Model/End-use energy system model for India to estimate the future water demand in major end-use sectors under business-as-usual (BAU), nationally determined contribution (NDC), and low-carbon futures (2 °C and 'well below 2 °C') up to 2050. We also simulate the effects of water constraints on major sectors under different climate-change regimes. Our results show that water-intensive end-use sectors, specifically agriculture and power, will face major impacts under water-constrained scenarios. Over the period between 2020 and 2050, policy measures taken under the NDC scenario can cumulatively save up to 14⁶billion cubic metres (bcm) of water, while low-carbon scenarios can save 20–21 bcm of water between 2020 and 2050, compared with BAU. In a water-constrained future, NDC and low-carbon futures can save 28–30 bcm of water. There is a need to increase the current water supply by 200–400 bcm. The marginal cost of installing dry cooling systems in the power sector is considerably higher than the cost and benefits of installing micro-irrigation systems with solar PV. Integrated policy coherence is required to achieve sustainable development goals, e.g., NDC and Paris Agreement goals, in both water and energy sectors. Concurrently, regulatory and economic instruments will play an essential role in improving resource-use efficiency at a systemic level, to reduce the overall water demand.