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Near-Term Responses in a Changing Climate
Section 4
Near-term adaptation and mitigation actions have more synergies 
than trade-offs with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Synergies and trade-offs depend on context and scale
Energy systems
SDGs
Urban and infrastructure
Land system
Ocean 
ecosystems
Society, 
livelihoods, and 
economies
Industry
Adaptation
Mitigation
Adaptation
Mitigation
Adaptation
Mitigation
Adaptation
Adaptation
Mitigation
Limited evidence/no evidence/no assessment
Both synergies and trade-offs/mixed
Trade-offs
Synergies
Key
Figure 4.5: Potential synergies and trade-offs between the portfolio of climate change mitigation and adaptation options and the Sustainable Development 
Goals (SDGs). This ﬁgure presents a high-level summary of potential synergies and trade-offs assessed in WGII Figure SPM.4b and WGIII Figure SPM.8, based on the qualitative and 
quantitative assessment of each individual mitigation or option. The SDGs serve as an analytical framework for the assessment of different sustainable development dimensions, which 
extend beyond the time frame of 2030 SDG targets. Synergies and trade-offs across all individual options within a sector/system are aggregated into sector/system potentials for the 
whole mitigation or adaptation portfolio. The length of each bar represents the total number of mitigation or adaptation options under each system/sector. The number of adaptation 
and mitigation options vary across system/sector, and have been normalised to 100% so that bars are comparable across mitigation, adaptation, system/sector, and SDGs. Positive 
links shown in WGII Figure SPM.4b and WGIII Figure SPM.8 are counted and aggregated to generate the percentage share of synergies, represented here by the blue proportion 
within the bars. Negative links shown in WGII Figure SPM.4b and WGIII Figure SPM.8 are counted and aggregated to generate the percentage share of trade-offs and is represented 
by orange proportion within the bars.