Exploring connections between the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

The document presents the NDC-SDG Connections tool, developed by the Stockholm Environment Institute and the German Development Institute, which disaggregates 161 NDCs into over 7,000 activities to map their links to the 17 SDGs and 169 targets. The analysis reveals that while NDCs span all SDGs, the strongest connections are in water, food, and energy, whereas social goals like health, education, and gender equality are under-represented. The tool highlights synergies across sectors—such as agriculture linking SDG 2, 6, and 15—but notes that it does not identify trade-offs, which remain an unexplored area for policy-makers.

• The NDC-SDG Connections tool was developed by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and the German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) by disaggregating 161 NDCs into more than 7,000 specific "activities" and coding them against the 17 SDGs and 169 targets.
• The strongest links between NDCs and the SDGs are concentrated in the sectors of water, food, and energy, with agriculture, energy, and water identified as key for both climate change mitigation and sustainable development.
• There is a significant imbalance in how environmental SDGs are represented in NDCs; specifically, activities related to SDG 14 (Life Below Water) are four times less frequent than those related to SDG 15 (Life on Land).
• Social dimensions of sustainable development are highly under-represented in NDC commitments, particularly in the areas of gender equality, education, and health (SDGs 5, 4, and 3).
• NDC activities often create synergies across multiple SDGs; for example, agriculture as a theme connects SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 15 (Life on Land), and SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation).
• While the NDC-SDG Connections tool identifies positive synergies and overlaps, it does not reveal trade-offs between the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement, which the authors describe as an unexplored area.

APA

Dzebo, A., Brandi, C., Janetschek, H., Savvidou, G., Adams, K., Chan, S., & Lambert, C. (2017). Exploring connections between the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-PB-2017-NDC-SDG-Connections.pdf

Chicago

Dzebo, Adis, Clara Brandi, Hannah Janetschek, Georgia Savvidou, Kevin Adams, Stephanie Chan, and Claire Lambert. Exploring connections between the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2017. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-PB-2017-NDC-SDG-Connections.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Dzebo |first1=Adis |last2=Brandi |first2=Clara |last3=Janetschek |first3=Hannah |last4=Savvidou |first4=Georgia |last5=Adams |first5=Kevin |last6=Chan |first6=Stephanie |last7=Lambert |first7=Claire |title=Exploring connections between the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=2017 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-PB-2017-NDC-SDG-Connections.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{dzebo2017exploring, author = {Dzebo, Adis and Brandi, Clara and Janetschek, Hannah and Savvidou, Georgia and Adams, Kevin and Chan, Stephanie and Lambert, Claire}, title = {{Exploring connections between the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2017}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-PB-2017-NDC-SDG-Connections.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }