Perspective: Connecting Climate Action with other Sustainable Development Goals

The international community has agreed to separate but interconnected commitments to combat climate change, and achieve 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Here we explore (dis)connections in evidence and governance between one set of commitments and the other. Our review of relevant evidence suggests that the impacts of climate change can undermine achievement of 16 SDGs, while action to address climate change can reinforce all 17 SDGs but also undermine efforts to achieve 12. Understanding of these relationships should be reinforced through interdisciplinary work between academic disciplines and evidence-synthesis initiatives. Governance processes and structures for climate change and other sustainable development challenges need to be better connected to maximize the legitimacy and effectiveness of action in both domains. The emergence around the world of coordinated institutions and planning for sustainable development is a promising step towards that end.