ABSTRACT

The success of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) depends on solving the ‘nexus’ challenge: how can positive interactions between SDGs be optimised, and negative interactions minimised, in order to create co-benefits and reduce trade-offs? Due to their varying impacts on the SDGs, the economic activities undertaken by organisations present a key lever for operationalising this SDG-nexus. Yet the interactions between individual economic activities and the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development have not been systematically assessed, thus creating a vital operational bottleneck to achieving the SDGs. This paper conducts a systematic review of 876 articles published between 2005 and 2019 to study the nexus between individual economic activities, sustainable development in general, and the SDGs in specific. It finds that studies on agricultural, industrial, and manufacturing activities predominantly report negative impacts on environmental development, while literature on services activities highlight economic and social contributions. Overall, most economic activities are expected to positively impact industrialization, infrastructure, and innovation [SDG 9] and economic productivity [SDG 8], while many help meet basic needs [SDGs 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11]. However, negative impacts are widespread, afflicting ecosystems [SDGs 14 and 15], climate change [SDG 13] and human health [SDG 3]. We synthesise positive and negative interactions between individual economic activities and SDG targets and discuss implications for: integrated (nexus) governance approaches to the SDGs; the role of the private sector in promoting sustainable development; and for improving statistical classifications to monitor economic activities’ SDG impacts.

抽象的

可持续发展目标（SDG）的成功取决于解决“联系”挑战：如何优化SDG之间的积极互动，并最小化消极互动，以创造共同利益并减少取舍？由于它们对可持续发展目标的影响各不相同，因此组织开展的经济活动为实现此可持续发展目标关系提供了关键杠杆。然而，尚未系统地评估个人经济活动与可持续发展的经济，社会和环境方面之间的相互作用，因此为实现可持续发展目标创造了重要的运营瓶颈。本文对2005年至2019年发表的876篇文章进行了系统的综述，以研究个体经济活动，总体上的可持续发展以及具体的可持续发展目标之间的关系。它发现，有关农业，工业和制造业活动的研究主要报告对环境发展的负面影响，而有关服务活动的文献则强调了经济和社会贡献。总体而言，大多数经济活动预计将对工业化，基础设施和创新[SDG 9]和经济生产率[SDG 8]产生积极影响，而许多活动将满足基本需求[SDGs 2、3、4、6、7、11]。然而，负面影响广泛存在，困扰着生态系统[SDG 14和15]，气候变化[SDG 13]和人类健康[SDG 3]。我们综合了个体经济活动与可持续发展目标之间的正面和负面相互作用，并讨论了对以下方面的影响：可持续发展目标的综合（联系）治理方法；私营部门在促进可持续发展中的作用；