Eight Archetypes of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Synergies and Trade‐Offs

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is contingent on managing complex interactions that create synergies and trade-offs between different goals. It is, therefore, important to improve our understanding of them, their underlying causal drivers, future behaviors, policy implications. Prominent methods interaction analysis focus modeling or data-driven statistical correlation are often insufficient for giving an integrated view drivers complexity. These also usually too technically heavily provide decision-makers with simple practical tools easily actionable understandable results. Here, we introduce a flexible systemic approach, termed archetype analysis, generalizes number recurring patterns among SDGs unique We review eight archetypes as thinking aids analyze some trade-offs, supported by several empirical examples related (e.g., poverty, food, well-being, water, energy, housing, climate, land use) demonstrate how they can be operationalized in practice. The aimed help researchers policymakers diagnostic tool identify fundamental mechanisms barriers resistance SDG progress, comparative enhance knowledge transfer cases similar prospective design synergistic policies sustainable development.