Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals in construction industry - a systemic consideration of synergies and trade-offs

According to sustainability research the world has exceeded four out of seven planetary boundaries. The areas of climate change, biodiversity loss, nitrogen cycle and land use have left the so called safe operating space for humanity. The built environment is one of the major contributors to environmental impacts. Especially the embodied energy during the construction phase of the built environment and the energy demands during the use of buildings contribute to a high energy and resource consumption. In the year 2015 the United Nations adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a universal development agenda, which goals need to be fulfilled by the year 2030 and by all UN countries worldwide. Amongst other countries Austria has adopted the 2030 agenda and has committed itself to the SDGs. Research objective was to explore the application of systemic approaches in the field of SDGs. The work presents a systematic literature review (SLR) and discusses an application of a qualitative system analysis (carried out with the tool iMODELER) on the SDGs. Results show how interdependencies among SDGs and among chosen concrete actions, e.g. for the built environment, can be visualized for a better systemic understanding. By visualizing synergies and trade-offs, effects of decisions taken can be estimated from a holistic perspective.