1.1. The Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, the United Nations introduced the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a new 15-year long road map for worldwide sustainable development (United Nations, 2016). The 17 SDGs listed in Table 1 consist of 169 targets and 230 indicators. As described in the resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015, the aim of the SDG framework is to cultivate and expand humanity’s desire to “do good” while also organizing its ability to do so. The SDGs “…seek to build on the [previous] Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and complete what they did not achieve” (United Nations General Assembly, 2015, p. 1). In launching the SDGs, the General Assembly of the United Nations “recognize[d] that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions (including extreme poverty) is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development” (United Nations General Assembly, 2015, p. 1). To that end, the SDGs represent “a plan of action for people, planet, and prosperity,” which in addition to peace and partnership, define the five “P’s” of the mission of the SDGs. To accomplish that mission, there needs to be a “balance [between] the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social, and environmental” (United Nations General Assembly, 2015, p. 3). It must be acknowledged that fulfilling the mission of sustainable development is indeed a daunting task, a truly formidable undertaking, unparalleled in human history.
Table 1. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (adapted from Global Goals, 2016)
| Goal | Title | Description |
| SDG 01 | Poverty | End poverty in all its forms everywhere |
| SDG 02 | Food Security | End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture |
| SDG 03 | Health | Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages |
| SDG 04 | Education | Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all |
| SDG 05 | Gender equality | Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls |
| SDG 06 | Water and Sanitation | Ensure availability and sustainable management of water
and sanitation for all |
| SDG 07 | Energy | Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all |
| SDG 08 | Economy | Promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all |
| SDG 09 | Infrastructure | Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation |
| SDG 10 | Inequality | Reduce inequality within and among countries |
| SDG 11 | Cities | Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable |
| SDG 12 | Consumption | Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns |
| SDG 13 | Climate | Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts |
| SDG 14 | Ocean | Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development |
| SDG 15 | Land | Protect, restore, and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss |
| SDG 16 | Governance | Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels |
| SDG 17 | Partnerships | Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development |
It should be noted that even though there are many goals and targets, eradicating extreme poverty (SDG 01) is the ultimate goal, but only if it is accomplished in an environmentally benign way. The other goals can be understood as constraints and requirements that the goal of eradicating extreme poverty must also satisfy.
From the inception and ultimately the adoption of the SDGs, there has been an increasing interest in understanding and quantifying their interactions (Costanza et al., 2016). Multiple papers and reports have been produced by various organizations to identify important linkages among the SDGs, how the SDGs affect each other (Coopman, et al., 2016; ICSU & ISSC, 2015; Nilsson et al., 2017; Nilsson et al., 2013; Vladimirova & Le Blanc, 2016), and how to measure qualitatively or semi-quantitatively those interactions (ICSU & ISSC, 2015; Nilsson, et al., 2016; Nilsson et al., 2017; Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Schmidt-Traubet al., 2015). Other publications have looked at the interactions of the SDGs with other frameworks and international agreements such as the Paris Climate Agreement, most notably (Von Stechow et al., 2016).