Low carbon transition of global power sector enhances sustainable development goals

Low-carbon power transition, key to combatting climate change, brings far-reaching effects on achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in terms of resources use, environmental emissions, employment, and many more. Here we assessed the potential impacts of power transition on 49 regional multiple SDGs progress under three different climate scenarios. We found that power transition could increase global SDG index score from 72.36 in 2015 to 74.38 in 2040 under the 1.5℃ scenario, compared with 70.55 and 71.44 under ‘Coal-dependent’ and ‘Middle of the road’ scenario, respectively. The power transition related global SDG progress would mainly come from switching to renewables in developing economies. Power transition also improves the overall SDG in most developed economies under all scenarios, while undermining their employment-related SDG progress. The global SDG progress would be jeopardized by power transition related international trade changes under ‘Coal-dependent’ and ‘Middle of the road’ scenario, while improved under the 1.5℃ scenario.