Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals Requires Transdisciplinary Innovation at the Local Scale

Summary The diversity of local conditions across regions has led to numerous challenges and opportunities for the implementation of global sustainability frameworks such as the Sustainable Development Goals. A grassroots transformative change led by local communities, cities, and businesses can offer a promising approach for achieving sustainability, tailored to the unique conditions of each context. Drawing on a systematic review of scientific and policy experiences, we explore some of the major challenges in local sustainability such as disagreements on local priorities, competing interests among various cohorts of stakeholders, and the risks posed by future uncertainties. We propose a transdisciplinary agenda based on the effective integration of computational approaches with genuine stakeholder engagement to mitigate these challenges. The proposed agenda is crucial for mobilizing collaborative efforts that enhance co-learning between scientists and stakeholders in the pursuit of sustainability across scales.