Jan 16, 2025SDG-nexus and spillovers at the heart of Agenda 2030: a new article published

Authors: Jorge Gómez-Paredes, Arunima Malik, and Guillaume Lafortune

The world’s crises demand coordinated global action. The UN 2030 Agenda is a globally adopted plan to tackle social and environmental challenges via 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Yet despite nearly a decade of implementation, progress remains elusive. At the heart of this stagnation is our inability to overcome silo mindsets and behaviors expressed in a failure to perceive individual realities as part of a globally interconnected whole, and a short-sighted pursuit of national interest over humanity’s welfare and survival. In terms of the SDGs, silo mindsets and behaviors come about in terms of “thematic silos” and “national silos”. The former takes place when actions to advance specific SDG-targets neglect their effects on other targets. The latter occurs when countries disregard the spillover effects of their actions on other countries’ SDGs.

The article calls for avoiding trade-offs and enhancing synergies, within and across countries and for adopting SDG-nexus approaches and implementing strategies to tackle SDG-spillover effects based on shared global responsibilities. These SDG-spillovers must be systematically assessed and integrated into countries’ progress reports, such as Voluntary National Reviews. They should also be considered in both implemented and planned policies and strategies for the SDGs. Ultimately, achieving sustainable development depends on international partnerships aimed at reducing or eliminating negative spillovers, which is crucial for global policy coherence.

Read the full article here

Citation: Gómez-Paredes J, Malik A, Lafortune G (2025) SDG-nexus and spillovers at the heart of Agenda 2030. PLOS Sustain Transform 4(1): e0000157.