Paper short abstract:

Our findings highlight the need and ample research opportunity to consider technology choices in analyses of SDG indicators such as SDG 7 aiming to ensure access to affordable energy. A better understanding of SDG co-benefits and tradeoffs is essential for "green" recovery plans from Covid-19.

Paper long abstract:

Linkages between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have sparked research interest because a better understanding of SDG co-benefits and tradeoffs may enable faster progress on multiple sustainability fronts and among multiple actors, including governments, industries, and individual businesses. However, SDG linkages are often analyzed without explicitly considering the technologies used to implement individual SDGs. For example, investing in one clean energy technology over another to support progress towards SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) might lead to stronger or weaker co-benefits and tradeoffs between SDG 7 and non-energy SDGs, e.g., due to differences in technology industries and their environmental and socio-economic impacts. Here we outline an approach to study this problem by connecting the industries required to manufacture and deploy the components of a technology to the SDG indicator framework as defined by the UN. We focus on SDG 7 and consider a set of example energy technologies (photovoltaic systems, nuclear fission power plants, wind turbines, and clean cookstoves) and non-energy SDGs (SDG 6, 8, and 9). We observe that all technologies show potential to create both beneficial and detrimental linkages between SDG 7 and non-energy SDGs (6, 8, and 9), with some notable differences between technology types and deployment scenarios. While linkages and their strength will need to be re-evaluated in the context of specific regional or local technology deployment strategies, our findings highlight the need and ample research opportunity to consider technology choices in analyses of SDG indicators and linkages.