Operationalizing Indivisibility—Synergies and Trade‐Offs in Six Swedish Municipalities’ Work With the 2030 Agenda

Sara Gottenhuber, Henrik Carlsen, Björn‐Ola Linnér and Nina Weitz

Sustainable Development, 2025, vol. 33, issue 4, 5642-5660

Abstract: Operationalizing the indivisibility and integrated nature of the UN 2030 Agenda poses a complex governance challenge. Although research has advanced our understanding of SDG localization and interlinkages, important gaps remain. In this paper, we depart from these two strands of literature by asking how synergies and trade‐offs manifest in localized SDG programs and what governance opportunities, challenges, and recommendations this may bring. We find that the SDGs provide a platform to organize and communicate local sustainability work but that organizational realities will drive prioritization of goals considered connected and synergistic, such as SDG4, SDG9, and SDG11, which stand in contrast with global assessments of interlinkages. In line with emerging literature on the strategic effect of the SDGs on governance, we argue that the ethos of indivisibility serves as an important heuristic for civil servants and policy makers beyond prioritizing or reporting progress on global goals.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.3422

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:33:y:2025:i:4:p:5642-5660

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainable Development is currently edited by Richard Welford

More articles in Sustainable Development from John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().