The Impact of COVID-19 on the Sustainable Development Goals: Achievements and Expectations

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on almost all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), leaving no country unaffected. It has caused a shift in political agendas, but also in lines of research. At the same time, the world is trying to make the transition to a more sustainable economic model. The research objectives of this paper are to explore the impact of COVID-19 on the fulfilment of the SDGs with regard to the research of the scientific community, and to analyze the presence of the Circular Economy (CE) in the literature. To this end, this research applies bibliometric analysis and a systematic review of the literature, using VOSviewer for data visualization. Five clusters were detected and grouped according to the three dimensions of sustainability. The extent of the effects of the health, economic and social crisis resulting from the pandemic, in addition to the climate crisis, is still uncertain, but it seems clear that the main issues are inefficient waste management, supply chain issues, adaptation to online education and energy concerns. The CE has been part of the solution to this crisis, and it is seen as an ideal model to be promoted based on the opportunities detected.

Keywords: COVID-19; SDG; bibliometric analysis; circular economy; systematic review.

Figure 1

Relation between SDGs and circular economy. Source: our own elaboration adapted on Costanza et al. [7] and Schröder et al. [45].

Figure 2

SDGs Index score over time, world average (2010–2021). Source: our own elaboration on Sachs et al. [46].

Figure 3

Distribution of articles by subject area.

Figure 4

Authors’ cooperation network based on co-authorship.

Figure 5

Network of cooperation between institutions based on the co-authorship of articles.

Figure 6

Network of cooperation between countries based on the co-authorship of articles.

Figure 7

Keywords co-occurrence map.