This article presents a methodology using system dynamics to model the time-dependent progress of each one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as their mutual interactions. The hard-systems approach presented herein complements a soft-systems, cross-impact analysis approach presented in part 1. To accomplish this, a modified logistic innovation-diffusion model is used to represent the progress of individual SDGs over time. Then, matrix transposition is used to model the SDGs' interactions. Combining these two techniques into one system dynamics model, the authors propose an analytical, quantifiable, and easily learned tool to understand the complex interplay among the SDGs as a system. The new web-based tool can be used to analyze several scenarios of the SDGs over time to understand the impact of a certain policy or economic intervention. This article is the second of a sequence of two papers analyzing the interactions between the SDGs in a systemic manner.
Reframing the sustainable development goals to achieve sustainable development in the Anthropocene—a systems approach
