Abstract:The broad scope and complexity of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) constitute a new challenge for policy. The identification of effective implementation strategies would need to be supported by coordinated policies that take into account the multiple relationships existing between the different dimensions of sustainability.

This report proposes an original method to identify and deal with inter-linkages. This method enables the identification of inter-linkages in a systemic way as a pivotal element of science supporting policy coherence for SDGs implementation and consistent with the key principles guiding the 2030 Agenda implementation in the international context.

The proposed method consists of two tools adopting two different perspectives. The first tool is based on the review of the current literature on inter-linkages by identifying the main approaches and classifying the literature along them. This exercise allows the development of a first dashboard indicating the “agreed” inter-linkages from the literature. The second dashboard, developed starting from the existing European Union legislation, allows the identification of policy priority areas where the EU added value is maximized and where EU policy nodes can represent the levers to exploit synergies for the SDGs implementation.

The combination of the two dashboards provides an effective operational method to develop policy implementation strategies at Goal and target levels which can help improve the overall policy coherence for sustainable development.