A Systematic Review Highlights the Need for Holistic Modeling of the Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are behind schedule for achievement by 2030. To avoid focusing on certain goals at the expense of others, all aspects of the SDGs must be considered in decision‐making and planning. Models have proven to be a crucial tool for analyzing scenarios, showing optimal pathways to a more sustainable world, and finding synergies and trade‐offs between the SDGs and their indicators. Therefore, there is a need for a comprehensive understanding of the existing literature on SDG modeling. To address this need, our study provides a systematic overview of models used for the SDG research by analyzing 146 articles screened from 1511 records during an initial search. Our overview presents the types of models used for the SDG research and their applications. Further, we depict the spatial coverage of the models in these 146 articles and what SDGs are addressed by the various model types. Our results indicate that equity, collaboration, and social justice (SDGs 5, 10, 16, and 17) receive limited attention in these articles. Therefore, more attention to these goals is necessary in model‐based studies to accelerate the holistic achievement of the SDGs. Better integration of all SDGs into models and explicit addressing of their synergies and trade‐offs can lead to better decision‐making for progress toward all the SDGs. Our study also highlights that only a small portion of the studies account for regional variations in models, while these variations significantly impact which SDGs require prioritization and how the goals can be achieved.