The 7 Policies That Could Save the SDGs

In 2015, world leaders pledged to achieve a fairer, cleaner, and healthier planet by 2030. But with just five years left, that vision is slipping away. Poverty is rising again, climate goals are off track, and many countries are moving backward on basic health and education milestones.

A new global modeling study published in The Lancet Planetary Health offers a sobering reality check—and a hopeful blueprint. The research, led by Jing Yang and colleagues from Sichuan University and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, finds that no single policy or sector can deliver sustainable development on its own. Progress requires coordinated action across education, food, energy, water, and climate.

When these policies are implemented together, the model projects a 20–30% faster path toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2050.

The Problem: Fragmented Efforts, Slower Progress

Public health professionals often see the downstream effects of disjointed policymaking. Energy planners push renewables without considering food systems. Agriculture ministries boost yields without addressing nitrogen runoff. Health programs tackle malnutrition, but not the water or economic systems that drive it.

The new study uses an integrated model—called the Functional Enviro-Economic Linkages Integrated Nexus (FeliX)—to simulate how global social, economic, and environmental systems interact. The model draws from decades of data across 12 sectors: population, education, economy, poverty, energy, water, land use, diet, fertilizer, climate, and biodiversity.

The research team tested 6,480 possible policy combinations under five different global futures. Their goal: to find policy portfolios that accelerate progress across ten key SDGs, including no poverty, zero hunger, good health, clean energy, and climate action.

What They Found

If the world continues on its current path, the model suggests that by 2030, we’ll have reached only 47% of the needed progress toward the SDGs—and just 60% by 2050.

Single policies, such as expanding renewable energy or improving education, helped somewhat—but their benefits often came with trade-offs. For example, rapid afforestation (tree planting) could help with carbon capture, but it would also reduce available farmland and water resources. Economic growth without sustainable diets or fertilizer efficiency could worsen emissions and biodiversity loss.

The turning point occurred when multiple sectors collaborated. The researchers identified two robust seven-policy portfolios that consistently performed best, even under uncertain futures.

These winning combinations included:

1. Ambitious education – 100% school enrollment for boys and girls by 2030
2. Energy system decarbonization – low energy demand and high renewables
3. Crop yield increase (+50%) – growing more food on existing land
4. Sustainable water use – ambitious wastewater reuse and demand control
5. High nitrogen use efficiency – reducing fertilizer waste
6. Healthy, sustainable diets – flexitarian or plant-forward eating
7. Climate action with ecosystem safeguards – carbon capture and reforestation on marginal lands

Together, these seven strategies created synergies that magnified their impact, improving health, reducing poverty, and protecting ecosystems simultaneously.

Key Insight:
Integrated policy portfolios boosted overall SDG performance by up to 29.5% by 2050—far more than any single intervention.

Why It Matters for Public Health

The findings reinforce what local health departments and NGOs see daily: health doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Educational access, food systems, and energy choices all shape population well-being.

A siloed “health-first” approach may miss opportunities to address root causes—like poor infrastructure, environmental degradation, or inequitable education.

For example:

• Improving education empowers healthier behaviors and stronger economies.
• Cleaner energy systems reduce air pollution deaths and respiratory disease.
• Dietary change affects chronic disease rates as much as agricultural sustainability.
• Smarter water and fertilizer management improves sanitation and reduces contamination.

What This Means in Practice

For local governments and health departments:

• Advocate for cross-sector task forces that align health, agriculture, and climate policies.
• Use system mapping tools to anticipate trade-offs (e.g., water use vs. energy growth).
• Integrate nutrition and education indicators into climate adaptation plans.

For NGOs and community organizations:

• Frame community interventions in terms of co-benefits (e.g., clean cooking as both climate and health action).
• Partner with environmental or education groups for joint funding and advocacy.

For policymakers:

• Support national and subnational plans that use portfolio approaches instead of single-issue fixes.
• Invest in data and modeling capacity to evaluate how policies interact over time.

Barriers Ahead

Ambitious as these findings are, the authors warn that implementation will be uneven. Many countries lack the necessary resources or governance structures to implement such integrated reforms. Political will, financing, and data coordination remain major obstacles.

There are also risks in pursuing narrow “green growth” strategies—like overreliance on bioenergy—that could worsen land and food insecurity. The study’s best-performing scenarios explicitly limited bioenergy expansion to avoid these pitfalls.

A Call for Coordinated Courage

The takeaway is clear: the SDGs won’t be saved by business as usual or by isolated programs. They depend on governments, researchers, and communities acting together, with courage and coordination.

As coauthor Zhaoxia Guo puts it, “Ambitious, integrated action—not incremental change—is what will determine whether we achieve a sustainable future.”

The good news is that the roadmap exists. The science now tells us not just what to do, but how to do it together.

Conversation Starters

• How might your agency align with other sectors to accelerate SDG progress?
• Which of these seven policies feels most achievable in your local context?
• What data or partnerships would you need to identify similar synergies?