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TOPICAL REVIEW
Demand side climate change mitigation actions and SDGs:
literature review with systematic evidence search
Joyashree Roy1,∗, Shreya Some2,4, Nandini Das3and Minal Pathak4
1Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand and Jadavpur University (on lien), Kolkata, India
2Department of Economics, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India
3Global Change Programme, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India
4Global Centre for Environment and Energy, Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad, India
∗
Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.
E-mail: joyashreeju@gmail.com
Keywords: SDG, industry, transport, buildings, avoid-shift-improve, actor, mitigation actions
Supplementary material for this article is available online
Abstract
To strengthen current discourse on acceleration and scale up of the emissions mitigation actions by
sector-specific demand side actions, information on the intersection of three dimensions becomes
useful. First, what kind of actions help in avoiding, shifting and improving demand for
activities/services and resultant emissions to help in deciding choices for actions; second, how these
three categories of actions are linked to the wider impact on human wellbeing represented by the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework; and third, who are the actors associated with
these mitigation actions. These three steps become important in the targeted scaling up of actions
through policy interventions. This study undertakes a review of the literature between 2015 and
2020 with systematic evidence searching and screening. The literature search has been conducted
in Scopus Database. From over 6887 literature in the initial search, 294 relevant literature were
finally reviewed to link demand side interventions of avoid-shift-improve (ASI) categories to
SDGs. It also maps these actions to actors who can lead the changes. Results show that a wide range
of improvement actions are already helping in incremental steps to reduce demand and emissions
in various services like mobility, shelter and industrial products. However, ASI categories provide
more distinct mitigation actions. All actions need support of innovation, infrastructure
development and industrialization. Actions that interact with several SDGs include active mode of
transport, passive building design, cleaner cooking, and circular economy. Positive links of these
actions to multiple SDGs are overall very strong; however, few trade-offs have been observed.
These are mostly related to distributional impact across social groups which highlight the need for
policy attention and hard infrastructure design changes. Mitigation and wider benefit outcomes
cannot be achieved by individual or household level actions alone. They require the involvement of
multiple actors, interconnected actions in sequence as well as in parallel, and support of hard
infrastructure. Our results show that in mobility services, policy makers supported by spatial
planners and service delivery providers are the major actors. In industry, major actors are policy
makers followed by spatial planners and innovators. For buildings, key actors include spatial
planners followed by policy makers. Besides these, strategic information sharing to enhance user
awareness and education plays an important role in shaping behaviour. Digitalization, information
and communication, and interactive technologies will play a significant role in understanding and
modifying people’s choices; however, these would also require regulatory attention.
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd
Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
1. Background
Acceleration in mitigation actions from now
through the next two decades simultaneously by
all countries and across all sectors is emerging as
an imperative from all global assessments (IPBES
2016, UNDP 2016, UNEP 2017, IPCC 2018,2019,
EAT-Lancet Commission 2019, HIMAP 2019) to
avoid catastrophic consequences and to avoid very
high and many uncertain mitigation costs associated
with uncertain technologies. One strong argument in
favour of wide scale global participation in climate
mitigation action comes from the scientific com-
munity who are highlighting clear wider develop-
mental co-benefits from climate mitigation (Dubash
et al 2013, Bajželj et al 2014, Behnassi et al 2014,
Campbell et al 2014, Lipper et al 2014, Long et al
2016, Creutzig et al 2018, Ürge-Vorsatz et al 2018,
Roy et al 2018a). Development and employment lit-
erature (Elasha 2010) see near term national develop-
mental priorities including energy security concerns
as urgent priorities and mitigation action as a long-
term goal. Sustainable development goals (SDGs)
provide a common overarching framing for devel-
opment that addresses both long-term sustainability
and wider human wellbeing oriented developmental
goals in the near future for all countries. Climate
action is the 13th goal under 17 politically negotiated
globally accepted SDGs. Mitigation is one of the cli-
mate actions proposed under SDG 13. Synergy and
trade-off between mitigation action and the SDGs
are now well acknowledged in the literature (Roy
et al 2018a, Hoegh-Guldberg et al 2019, Some 2020).
An IPCC special report on the ‘Global Warming’
of 1.5 ◦C assessed extensive literature to report the
indicative linkages between climate action within the
SDG framework (Roy et al 2018a) without going into
an assessment of net positive and negative impacts.
Users of the report expressed its usefulness and a
desire for additional assessment of net wider impact.
The caption to Table SPM 4 in the IPCC SR1.5 notes
the need for further assessment. The IPCC SR1.5 also
identifies the lack of adequate studies that address
interlinkages between climate mitigation and adapt-
ation and resilient socio-economic transformations.
Our goal in this article is to pick up from the more
conclusive findings in the SR1.5, which highlights
that demand side mitigation actions are more syn-
ergistic with SDGs compared to supply side actions
and conduct a deeper investigation using systematic
evidence search and screening of the existing literat-
ure for a better understanding of the evidence on SDG
impacts of demand side mitigation actions grouped
under avoid-shift-improve (ASI) categories, and fur-
ther into actors who can lead the actions.
The ASI categories we borrow from applications
in the 1990s in the transport sector. Recently Gota
et al (2019) reviewed up to 1500 low-carbon measures
in 81 countries, which are grouped under the ‘avoid’
category as those aiming to decrease the need for
transport trips, ‘shift’ representing actions that enable
a shift to substitute modes for service provision, and
‘improve’ represents actions aiming to look for more
efficient appliances. Given the simplicity of the ASI
categorisation, recently there is an increasing focus
on applying the ASI category beyond the transport
sector (Creutzig et al 2018). Given this background,
this study undertakes to prepare a review by a sys-
tematic evidence search and screening to address the
overarching research question, ‘what evidence exists
on various mitigation actions implemented in various
regions that can be categorized under avoid, shift and
improve in demand for products and services, how
do they interact with SDGs, and who are the main
actors who drive mitigation actions?’ The study con-
siders the interaction of mitigation actions with all
16 non-climatic SDGs. Three energy demand sectors
(services) chosen are: transport (mobility), industry
(variety of products) and building (shelter and com-
merce).
2. Method
We have followed a systematic evidence search and
screening of literature and evidence. It is performed
by using relevant keywords within the scope of the
research question to find out all the relevant literature
within the Scopus database. Being systematic helps us
in removing bias of selecting and omitting literature
(Lamb et al 2018).
It is very basic, but due to its elegance we organ-
ize and segregate the research question in population-
intervention-outcome (PIO) elements. The PIO ele-
ments of the research question are:
Population(s): energy end use sectors (industry,
transport and building) mapped into goods and ser-
vice typologies e.g. industrial manufactured goods
such as clothing for thermal comfort , transport for
mobility and buildings for shelter for commercial and
institutional functions for homes, hospitals, schools
and workspace. However, we use sectors and services
interchangeably in the article.
Intervention(s): a range of mitigation actions
relating to various sectors mentioned in the popula-
tion above. These mitigation actions are categorized
as changes at technical, behavioural and infrastruc-
tural and/or systemic level.
Outcome(s): synergies and trade-offs with all 16
SDGs with goal 13 (climate action) as climate mitig-
ation actions in energy demand sectors are the entry
point of this study.
2.1. Literature search
To identify demand side mitigation actions for end-
use sectors such as transport, industry and build-
ing, search queries (annex A) are developed on
the sector-specific key elements PIO (population
(Query 1), intervention (Query 2) and outcome
2
Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
(Query 3)) of the research question. We divide
outcome-related search terms into two parts: Query
3a and Query 3b; the first one focuses on various
demand side actions for mitigation and the second
one is to constrain results to those relevant to SDG
linkages. The search was performed in Scopus. We
are aware that these same search strings would have
fetched different results in other databases (Bramer
et al 2017) but we have used only Scopus because it
is more user-friendly in terms of downloading search
results directly in .csv format than other databases like
Web of Science (Core Collection). We have limited
the study period between 2015 and 2020 to align with
the SDGs and for the ongoing IPCC Sixth Assessment
Cycle (AR6). Annex Aprovides a list of search terms
used for the three sectors.
2.2. Screening
Articles from the above search were considered for
inclusion in three successive levels following selected
inclusion criteria (annex B). The first step was title
screening followed by abstract screening and finally
full text review. In case of uncertainty during the
title or abstract screening, the article was included
by default in the next step of screening. After the
abstract screening, 12 articles randomly selected from
each sector were checked by all the four authors for
consistency and agreement between the authors and
were recorded using the Kappa test. The Kappa val-
ues are ranged in between 0.63 and 0.71 (k=0.71 for
transport: SS vs JR; k=0.63 for industry: ND vs JR;
k=0.66 for building: MP vs JR).5The scores indicate
moderate agreement.
The final step was a full text review of short-listed
articles for inclusion in the final analysis. The art-
icles were distributed by sector among two review-
ers: transport-JR and SS, industry-JR and ND and
building-JR and MP. General inclusion and exclusion
criteria were set a priori for all the three sectors at the
different stages of screening (annex B).
2.3. Data/information extraction
Articles included for final analysis are thoroughly
reviewed. We used a detailed coding sheet (see
the supplementary file which is available online at
stacks.iop.org/ERL/16/043003/mmedia) to record the
mitigation actions, the country context, the SDG link-
ages and the actors along with all other necessary
information related to the articles like the title of the
article, publication year, source and the DOI.
2.4. Synthesizing data/information
We grouped various demand side actions from the
supplementary file into the ASI category follow-
ing Creutzig et al (2018). The ASI category for all
three end-use sectors in this paper is grouped as
5JR: Joyashree Roy, SS: Shreya Some, ND: Nandini Das, MP: Minal
Pathak
follows. The Avoid catergory includes actions aimed
at avoiding the demand for high-emission intens-
ive services (mobility, manufactured product, shel-
ter and building services including cooking); actions
in the shift category help in substituting demand for
high-emission intensive services with low/no intens-
ive ones; and improve category actions are aimed at
improving the energy/emission intensity of a service
type. Two reviewers from each sector categorized the
interventions into the ASI category and in case of
ambiguity, a third reviewer was consulted to solve the
discrepancies. We then mapped the SDGs’ impacts
of individual ASI interventions (see supplementary
file). SDGs are interlinked, so trying to achieve one
goal (here SDG 13) have wider impacts (synergies
and trade-offs) on other goals (other 16 SDGs, except
SDG 13). Therefore, it is important from a policy
perspective to understand these wider impacts that
the demand side mitigation actions imply. We have
mapped the wider impacts from the implementa-
tion of demand side mitigation actions (SDG 13)
against the other SDGs, for each of the three end-use
sectors (see table 1, figures 3–5and supplementary
file). Then, we tried to see which actors can be asso-
ciated with these mitigation actions. This becomes
important in targeted scaling up of actions through
policy interventions. These findings are presented in
section 3.
While reviewing the articles, we found interest-
ing inter-sectoral linkages that can aid in taking the
mitigation actions. We report the findings of the
inter-sectoral linkages and digitalization in section 4.
Figure 1presents the workflow chart.
3. Results
3.1. Descriptive statistics
The search queries fetched a total of 6887 studies.
Annex Cprovides details of the articles included after
each screening stage. Below we describe the screen-
ing stages for each sector. A total of 294 articles are
included for detailed analysis. Studies included in the
review spanned a wide geographic scope represent-
ing over 67 countries with a large number of stud-
ies from Europe, Asia and North America (figure 2).
Considering all the sectors, most studied countries
are China (n=25) followed by USA (n=21), UK
(n=17) and India (n=15). In total, 18 studies had
a wider scope focusing either at the global level, on a
specific region or on developing countries in general.
For the transport sector, most studied countries are
China (n=10), followed by USA (n=9) and India
(n=8). Out of 107 transport sector studies included
in the review, 50 are developed country studies while
47 are developing country studies. For the industry
sector, the most studied countries are China (n=6),
followed by India and Italy (n=2). Out of 59 studies
for industry included in the review, 7 are developed
3
Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
Figure 1. Workflow chart. Numbers depict the sequence of information extraction. Three is discussed in section 4.
country studies while 11 are developing country stud-
ies. For building sector, most studied countries are
USA (n=12), followed by China (n=9). Of the 128
studies included in the review or building sector, 95
are developed country studies while only 19 are devel-
oping country studies.
3.2. Transport
In this sector, we have grouped mitigation actions
in service delivery into the ASI category (see annex
D) following Creutzig et al (2018). The Avoid
category includes actions aimed at avoiding the
demand for mobility services: compact urban plan-
ning which helps in avoiding mobility and redu-
cing vehicle ownership. Shift category actions help
in substituting demand for mobility services with
a low/no emission intensive one: increasing the use
of active travel and more use of public transport.
While, actions in the Improve category are aimed
at improving the energy/emission intensity of a
mobility service type: shared mobility, use of elec-
tric vehicles (EVs)/zero emission vehicles, hydrogen
buses, etc.
3.2.1. ASI-SDG link
Mitigation actions in the mobility service sector
deliver multiple benefits and therefore show synergies
with several SDGs (table 1). Compact urban plan-
ning and reducing vehicle ownership cater to sustain-
able cities and reduce air pollution (SDG 11). Active
mobility requires the development and strengthening
of partnerships (SDG 17) for planning (Macmillan
et al 2020) the infrastructure. Shifting to active modes
such as walking, cycling, etc, reduces mortality and
provides health benefits (SDG 3) but has a collision
risk if not supported by separate lanes (Doorley et al
2015). Using active modes (cycling) generates income
for the local communities (SDG 1 and 8) and for com-
muters, these are very low-cost methods for accessing
basic services (Macmillan et al 2020) for developing
countries. Active modes can reduce gender inequit-
ies in access to basic services, healthcare and educa-
tion (SDG 5). Education and awareness programs aid
in understanding the environmental benefits of shift-
ing to public transport and e-vehicles (Bigerna et al
2019). Urban environments that enable active travel
modes for trips have the potential to reduce physical
and financial barriers to participating in education for
women thereby catering to SDG 5 (Macmillan et al
2020). A study in Canada (Mitra and Nash 2019) has
shown that providing a bike lane facility improves
the chances of females (SDG 5 and 10) commuting
by bike. The use of public transit and active modes
demands proper infrastructure (SDG 9) and saves
energy (SDG 7). Also, Sjöman et al (2020) mentioned
that transit-oriented infrastructure (SDG 9) helps in
avoiding ownership of private vehicles. However, in
some developing countries weather conditions and
unreliable connectivity affect the lack of incentives
to improve existent infrastructure related to pub-
lic transportation (Bonasif 2017) and active modes.
Gilderbloom et al (2016) pointed out that shifting to
active modes and reducing car demand preserves land
(SDG 15) that would have been otherwise used to
4
Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
Figure 2. Cartography of all literature. Bars: the left bar shows sector wise total literature included in the review and the right bar
shows total literature according to country status; the lighter shade indicates developed country and the darker shade indicates
developing country.
construct and maintain parking garages and surface
parking lots.
Improving service efficiency (e.g. car sharing)
or fuel switch (e.g. hydrogen buses; EVs) (Creutzig
et al 2018) helps improving mobility service demand
with relatively less emission. Sharing mobility ser-
vices has come a long way now but commuters with
a private interest in driving their own car need to
understand the importance of sustainable consump-
tion (SDG 12) and act altruistically (Mehdizadeh et al
2019). Using low or no-carbon fuel and efficient car
help in reducing air pollution which provides direct
health benefits (SDG 3) (Yang et al 2018). Also, stud-
ies have shown that digitalization has helped women
to use more carpooling due to the built-in safety fea-
tures (SDG 5, 10 and 11). However, subsidizing EVs
for greater adoption may lead to higher sales among
active travelers (Rudolph 2016, Zhang et al 2018).
Out of 107 selected studies in the final analysis,
almost all studies point toward benefits across the
various dimensions of sustainable development from
mitigation actions for transport. Overall, no direct
linkage has been found with SDGs 2, 6 and 14. Most
of the linkages are with SDGs 9 and 11, clearly show-
ing the relevance of innovation and infrastructure for
sustainable transportation, followed by SDGs 16 and
17, clearly depicting the crucial role of actors like gov-
ernment and planners in ASI. It is apparent from
figure 3that actions in the shift category and a few in
the improve category (shared mobility and EVs) have
more evidence for the SDGs link.
3.2.2. Actors and examples of mitigation actions
Spatial planners and policymakers are identified as
the major actors for helping in avoiding the demand
for mobility services. There are various examples
where imposing high congestion charges for driv-
ing in the central parts of the city like in London
(Ahmad and Puppim de Oliveira 2016), rewarding
the (voluntary) forfeit of a (second) car in the house-
hold (Schoenau and Müller 2017), and imposing
high parking fees and high taxes on cars (Ahmad
and Puppim de Oliveira 2016) by local govern-
ing bodies may have helped reduce ownership of a
vehicle. Imposing high parking fees is supported by
both developed (Langlois et al 2015) and develop-
ing (Becker and Carmi 2019) countries. Spatial plan-
ners (e.g. urban planners and designers) (Stojanovski
2019) can adopt long-term strategies like increasing
housing supply near the workplace (Schneider and
Willman 2019) or transit stops (Langlois et al 2015)
to avoid mobility demand. The Seoul Smart Work
Center is an initiative for all government employees
to work closer to their homes. In 2015, 30% of the
employees were covered under this scheme (Shmelev
and Shmeleva 2018).
Indian mega cities such as Mumbai and Kolkata
have historical advantages of a well spread-out infra-
structure of public transport. Kolkata, Pune and
Delhi’s comprehensive mobility plans and master
plans have set a target of achieving 90% modal
share in the form of public transport (Roy et al
2018b). The involvement of actors at multiple levels
5
Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
Figure 3. Literature reviewed on mitigation actions in ASI categories for the transport sector. Literature distribution by SDGs,
actors and countries in each ASI category. The shades in color vary with the number of pieces of evidence. White represents 0
articles.
is necessary to shift mobility demand from private
mode to public modes. For example, spatial plan-
ners (e.g. road planners) or policymakers can adopt
various actions like reduced road space for cars;
introduce programs like ‘car free Sundays’ in the
city center as done in Bristol; and communicate the
environmental benefits of using sustainable trans-
port (Mir et al 2016), while service delivery agents
can improve the quality and frequency of service
(Trinh and Linh 2018). Developed country studies
suggest innovative design for bus services consider-
ing user needs at the bus stop (Hildén et al 2016,
Mozos-Blanco et al 2018) while developing country
studies point out that public transport may not a
preferable option due to poor schedule, dirty stations
(Lelono et al 2018) and also poor-quality service like
rude staff, low-quality buses, crowding (Trinh and
Linh 2018), less safety and careless bus drivers. There-
fore, innovation and service delivery through ser-
vice delivery agents have different roles in developed
(innovative service design, digitalized mobility (Sjö-
man et al 2020)) and developing countries (profes-
sional training to bus drivers and ticket collectors,
providing bus route information, timetable (Trinh
and Linh 2018)) to boost demand for public trans-
port. Shifts toward the public transport system in
India are backed by policy and practice, as well as
an investment model through well-defined private
sector participation along with the introduction of
joint strategies for energy efficiency of equipment and
a switch to electrification (Roy et al 2018b). How-
ever, in developing countries like Ghana and India,
people with higher education use less active trans-
port, as owning a car indicates higher social status
(Acheampong and Siiba 2018); therefore, individu-
als’ own lifestyle choices are also important in making
mobility service decisions.
The roles of universities, educational insti-
tutes and companies are important both in raising
awareness and helping to changing the behavior of
individuals. For example, companies can provide
monthly prepaid public transport passes rather than
private transport allowances (Ahmad and Puppim de
Oliveira 2016) as done in Seoul and Tokyo which
encourage staff to commute by public transport.
To promote active travel, policymakers and local
stakeholders should advocate the environmental
benefits of walking and cycling/biking (Ho et al 2017,
Schneider and Willman 2019). Policymakers and spa-
tial planners like road planners should provide better
infrastructure and provide a user-friendly envir-
onment to encourage people to walk and bike for
their non-work travel needs (Ramezani et al 2018,
Carroll et al 2019, Useche et al 2019). While actors
like companies (corporate offices) can motivate their
employees to use active travel like in Boston, USA, 14
6
Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
companies are motivating employees to commute to
work using bikes (Wunsch et al 2016). There are sev-
eral case-studies (Aittasalo et al 2017, Fenton 2017)
on promoting active modes available for developed
countries. Already in many developed countries like
Canada and the USA, actions from policymakers and
public investment in infrastructure have helped in
upscaling active modes (Ramezani et al 2018, Mitra
and Nash 2019). Interesting to note here that there are
very limited studies (figure 3) that discuss promoting
active travel in developing countries. These stud-
ies (Wethyavivorn and Sukwattanakorn 2019) sug-
gest scaling up active modes for solving last mile
problems.
Multiple actors have roles to play in improv-
ing mobility service demand. In most of the met-
ropolitan cities in both developed and developing
countries, Uber/Ola/Lyft/similar service providers are
extremely common. These actors have introduced a
vehicle pool service facility where commuters trav-
eling in the same direction can share rides and save
money. Policymakers can also promote shared rides
through policies (Ceccato and Diana 2018). Shar-
ing mobility services for children’s school travel is
the responsibility of the parents as household act-
ors (Mehdizadeh et al 2019). In Indian cities like
Kolkata, school-bus and carpools are the most com-
mon means for transportation of school children but
the parents of school children have shown concern
about poor service quality, safety, staff behavior, jour-
ney time and waiting time (Prasad and Maitra 2019).
Most schools prefer a school bus to car pools due
to safety issues (South Point School 2019). Actors
like employers are providing car sharing platforms
for their staff. Therefore, service delivery agents need
to look into safety issues to scale up shared ride
among school students. Policymakers (e.g. national
or local government) support in terms of financial aid
(subsidies), infrastructure (charging stations, proper
roads) and training facilities for the drivers are very
crucial in upscaling EVs (Zhang et al 2018, Ahmed
and Karmaker 2019, Tu and Yang 2019) in both
developed and developing countries. In countries like
South Korea and Chile, the government provides sub-
sidies for the adoption of electric taxis (Aymeric and
François 2017, Kim et al 2017). However, to date low
penetration of EVs has been a problem, but the reality
is changing very fast. The reasons for low penetration
are high battery cost and low availability of charging
points. In Chile, as of 2014, only 136 vehicles (0.003%
of the total fleet) are electricity-fuelled (Aymeric and
François 2017). It is also important for innovation
and service delivery providers to provide adequate
charging points to support the penetration of EVs. In
Brazil, the Itaipu hydroelectric power plant has estab-
lished an electric-car sharing platform for its employ-
ees (Vanzella et al 2018). Households/individuals can
play their role by paying a higher price for low pol-
luting travel. A study (Bigerna and Polinori 2015)
designed to find the willingness to pay for hydro-
gen buses in Perugia, Italy reveals that commuters are
willing to pay 30%–60% more than the single-trip bus
fare.
3.3. Industry
Demand reduction for industrial products can
happen at two stages, intermediate demand for
the products used as input in other manufactur-
ing processes and final demand from the end-user.
However, it is identified to happen mostly outside the
industry sector (Fischedick et al 2014). We identified
14 mitigation actions following a full-text screening
of 39 articles. These actions for the industry sector
are presented in annex E. These actions are broadly
grouped into three categories, avoid demand/con-
sumption of virgin materials and inputs by using
more recycled and by-products, reduced emission
intensity by shifting to the low-carbon or renewable
energy sources and modern manufacturing process
and improved material efficiency and energy effi-
ciency. The most commonly studied intervention is
clustering of the industries through an eco-industrial
park (EIP) and industrial symbiosis (IS) (Jin et al
2017, Guo et al 2018, Fraccascia 2019, Huang et al
2019). In IS when a group of firms located in the same
area and interconnected to share water, energy and
by-products, the operating efficiency of individual
firms improves (Bellantuono et al 2017). The sym-
biotic relationship among firms in EIP and IS avoids
material use and facilitates the use of by-products and
waste recycling (ElMassah 2018), thereby reducing
the consumption of materials and energy and con-
sequent reduction of GHG emissions. Two import-
ant demand side mitigation actions in industry are
reducing emission intensity and improving energy
efficiency at the production process level. From the
final analysis of the selected literature, nine actions
refer to improvement of technological efficiency with
deployment of clean and green technology (Ashraf
et al 2018, Guo et al 2018, Hens et al 2018, Bertarelli
and Lodi 2019, Safarzadeh and Rasti-Barzoki 2019)
smart energy system, recovery of waste heat (Zhang
et al 2016), energy management system (Javied et al
2015).
3.3.1. ASI-SDG link
Based on the literature review the demand side mit-
igation actions for the industry sector are mapped
against eight SDGs. From the selected literature goal
numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 14, 15, 16 could not be linked
directly. Out of 59 selected studies for final ana-
lysis only 12 studies have established direct linkages
between SDGs and demand side mitigation actions
for the industry. The remaining studies, while do
not mention SDGs specifically, point toward bene-
fits across the various dimensions of sustainable
development. Goal number 9 directly addresses sus-
tainable industrialization by fostering innovation. In
7
Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
our selected studies almost all the 14 actions are
contributing to achieving this goal (Bertarelli and
Lodi 2019) mainly through technological innovation
(Pigosso et al 2018) and improved energy and emis-
sion efficiency (Wang et al 2018b). Sustainable pro-
duction (SDG 12) with efficient resource manage-
ment, an important impact of demand side actions
with material efficiency (Abreu et al 2017, Bai et al
2018), use of by-products in a symbiotic production
system (Bellantuono et al 2017) and circular economy
(Yang et al 2019). We have been able to link a total
of 8 actions with SDG 12. Cooperation and commu-
nication among firms and financial stability with a
suitable business model seem to be the most import-
ant aspects of clustering of the industries (Menato
et al 2017). This also helps attain SDG 17 which
addresses partnership to achieve sustainable devel-
opment through domestic cooperation (see table 1,
figure 4 and supplementary file).
It is apparent from figure 4 that avoid category
actions have the strongest connection with the SDGs.
If we analyze these interventions in the context of
developed and developing countries, we can see that
avoid category actions like IS and EIP are important
demand side mitigation actions for both developed
and developing countries. However, the importance
of avoid (circular economy), shift (use of low car-
bon energy sources) and improve (technological effi-
ciency) has a larger importance in developing coun-
tries. Smart energy management and smart energy
systems have less relevance in developing countries
(figure 4).
3.3.2. Actors and examples of mitigation actions
Industrial symbiosis and EIP has emerged as one of
the important action from the demand side both in
developed and developing countries. However, the
driving force of IS is cooperation among industries
operating in IS/EIP, information sharing (ElMassah
2018) and shared support services (Fraccascia 2019)
which are influenced by various technical, economic,
and legal factors (Huang et al 2019). The heterogen-
eity of the existing firms in a cluster is key for a suc-
cessful aggregation (Bellantuono et al 2017). At the
organizational level the roles of spatial planners such
as operators of the firms, IS facilitators, and policy-
makers become crucial to facilitate a convenient shar-
ing platform for the implementation of a stable IS
(Bellantuono et al 2017, Fraccascia 2019). In order to
extend the possible use of by-products and for better
energy management, linkages with research organiz-
ations are important (Guo et al 2018). Among these
studies, two studies have argued that tax deduction
instead of subsidy can be a more effective instru-
ment to encourage the use of energy-efficient and
clean technology (Pillay and Buys 2016, Bertarelli and
Lodi 2019), which has also been supported by the-
oretical models for a long time (Pearce and Turner
1990). In this case the role of a regulatory mechanism
to strengthen the market instruments and optimum
policy defining the role of policymakers such as gov-
ernment is crucial.
At the user end, actors involved in innovation
and service delivery facilitate through digitalization
to create an alternative form of provisioning system,
say e.g. for clothes swapping through various on-line
applications (apps) and also creating pop-up market-
places (Holmes 2018). Dedicated websites for clothes
swapping like ‘swishing.co.uk’, ‘swopped.co.uk’ or
apps like ‘This for That’ have provided new market-
places for used items of clothing (Holmes 2018) and
also contribute to avoiding the demand for new cloth-
ing and hence textile industry products. The use of
digital media in daily activities like switching to an
electronic newspaper is reducing demand for paper
newspapers (Permatasari et al 2018).
3.4. Buildings
While the ASI category has been extensively applied
to the transport sector, very few studies have dis-
cussed this for the building sector (Creutzig et al
2018). Demand reduction from the building sec-
tor includes actions that avoid the need for floor
area/building footprint or those which reduce the
energy consumption for space heating/cooling, illu-
mination from lighting, cooking and use of various
energy using appliances. Actions that reduce the need
for energy intensive materials for building construc-
tion such as cement could include substitution or use
of alternate materials such as fly ash, wood, bam-
boo or other local materials. For the purpose of this
study, these actions are excluded. We focus only on
the emissions from building operations or services.
The avoid category refers to actions that reduce the
need for heating or cooling such as passive construc-
tion including the use of daylighting, shading, build-
ing form and orientation and use of natural ventila-
tion (annex F). Given that many of the green build-
ing mitigation actions such as passive design, cool
roofs, and green roofs avoid the demand for artificial
lighting, heating or cooling services, we include green
buildings in the avoid category.
The shift category includes actions such as switch-
ing to more alternative substitutes, cleaner cooking
fuels and technologies and district heating or cool-
ing. Shift to cleaner cooking fuels is a significant
shift action contributing to substantial energy effi-
ciency improvements and SDG benefits discussed in
the subsequent section. Purchase or replacement of
efficient appliances that fall into the improve category
(annex F) are shown to deliver substantial energy
savings; however, some studies in Japan, China and
Taiwan reported rebound effects undermining total
potential energy savings (Mizobuchi and Takeuchi
2016, Su 2019). Environmentally sustainable design
including the use of daylight, management of cir-
culation area could significantly reduce the need for
heating/cooling and artificial lighting (Lourenço et al
8
Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
Figure 4. Literature reviewed on mitigation actions in ASI categories for the industry sector. Literature distribution by SDGs,
actors and countries in each ASI category. The shades in color vary with a number of pieces of evidence. White represents 0
articles.
2019). Several studies reported the use of information
and communication technology (ICT), Internet of
things (IoT) devices that provide real-time consump-
tion data provided useful information to house-
holds stimulating energy saving behavior. Such auto-
mated systems achieve significantly higher results
when matched with conscious and sustainable con-
sumers (Fabi et al 2017). Behavioral aspects could
have significant impacts on energy consumption and
need to be accounted for (Walzberg et al 2019), which
makes it necessary for decarbonizing strategies to go
beyond a technology centric approach and include
social dimensions (Sodagar and Starkey 2016).
Studies on passive building design, energy sav-
ing behaviour and efficient appliances were found
for both developed and developing countries how-
ever, not surprisingly, there were more studies for
developed countries compared to developing coun-
tries. Studies on heat pumps, ICT and renewable
energy/distributed generation were found mostly for
developed countries indicating a higher level of tech-
nology penetration.
3.4.1. ASI-SDG links
Demand side actions for buildings deliver multiple
benefits and therefore show synergies with several
SDGs (table 1). However, there are stronger syner-
gies with SDGs 3, 7, 9, 11 and 12. The highest syn-
ergies are observed with SDGs 7 and 9 (figure 5).
Sustainable buildings through their numerous mitig-
ation actions such as passive design measures, green
and cool roofs, greening systems, water efficiency
and other actions enhancing thermal comfort, and
financial benefits have the opportunity to deliver mul-
tiple positive impacts especially enhancing the health
and wellbeing of occupants and therefore we see pos-
itive interaction with SDG 3 (Balaban and de Oliveira
2017, Alawneh et al 2018). Sustainably built infra-
structure is central to sustainable communities and
cities (SDG 11) and buildings, especially large insti-
tutional buildings contribute to resilient communit-
ies and cities. Studies highlight the need to interpret
these benefits with caution as in some cases, certi-
fied green buildings or green products could lead to
more adverse indoor air quality and health hazards
(Steinemann et al 2017). Some studies also show that
the performance of green buildings could decline over
time undermining the initial benefits (Zaid et al 2017)
highlighting the need to undertake long term green
building performance evaluations.
Building services are essential for wellbeing and
therefore these have a strong impact on equity. Ele-
ments include thermal comfort, adequate lighting,
heating and cooling and other services. The use of
informal biomass for cooking remains a persistent
issue globally despite advances in the energy sec-
tor and therefore enhanced access to clean cook-
ing fuels and stoves can contribute significantly to
overall wellbeing (Poblete-Cazenave and Pachauri
2018). Such a transition could contribute to achiev-
ing SDG 7 on universal clean energy access, but
also improve gender equality (SDG 6), and health
outcomes (SDG 3) (Rosenthal et al 2018, Batch-
elor et al 2019). Improved illumination and indoor
air quality in schools can improve student’s learn-
ing outcomes and provide opportunities for energy
9
Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
Figure 5. Literature reviewed on mitigation actions in ASI categories for the building sector. Literature distribution by SDGs,
actors and countries in each ASI category. The shades in color vary with the number of pieces of evidence. White represents 0
articles.
savings (Hu 2017, Lourenço et al 2019), for low
income housing, this could also improve women and
child health (Rosenthal et al 2018). Similarly, meet-
ing the demand with renewable energy resources
caters to SDG 7 on energy security. Technology-
led or behavior-led mitigation actions that pro-
mote production and use of efficient devices fur-
ther targets SDG 12 (Withanage et al 2016). Research
in energy systems, smart-grids, smart-meters and
other technology combinations spur green innova-
tions contributing positively to SDG 9. While effi-
cient appliances have been discussed in most stud-
ies, few papers discuss the adequate levels of appli-
ance ownership to ensure decent living standards for
societies. A large share of the population in devel-
oping countries lacks access to air conditioning and
cooling devices. This could further exacerbate energy
poverty adversely impacting SDGs 3 and 7 (Mastrucci
et al 2019).
3.4.2. Actors and examples of mitigation actions
A number of actors influence the building sector
ranging from policymakers (government and quasi-
government agencies) to a number of spatial plan-
ners (private stakeholders like real estate developers,
builders, architects, designers), local stakeholders
(like regulatory agencies) and households. Figure 5
shows the various building related mitigation actions
and the actors that can influence change. Policy-
makers at all levels can influence and support the
adoption and upscaling of building interventions. At
the national and state level, these include building
codes and policies, appliance standards and efficiency
targets. National building codes have been success-
ful in most implementing countries. At the local
level, planning authorities, independent architects
and building professionals exert significant influ-
ence on local regulations and targets including build-
ing design guidelines and overall urban built form.
Accelerated adoption of green building standards also
depends on an enabling market environment (Teng
et al 2019). Rating agencies or government depart-
ments could facilitate green buildings or related sus-
tainable mitigation actions by setting effective stand-
ards (Darko et al 2017), through supportive policies
technical support and financial assistance (Balaban
and de Oliveira 2017), by working with service deliv-
ery actors like industry stakeholders to remove regu-
latory bottlenecks. The private sector also exerts sig-
nificant influence as a supplier of building services.
This includes spatial planners and innovation and
service delivery actors who are diverse, ranging from
large design and construction companies, architects,
designers, building professionals, appliance compan-
ies and the emerging players in the IoT and smart
metering market.
10
Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
As the final segment in the chain, households are
key agents of change in the energy service demand
space (figure 5and annex F). Actions taken by house-
holds could include reduced wastage (switching off
lights and appliances when not in use), shift to
more alternative modes of service provision through
feedback from installing smart devices and adopting
renewable energy. Behaviour is influenced by diverse
factors including conformity to others (Walzberg
et al 2019), organizational culture (Lourenço et al
2019), education and other social and cultural factors.
For instance, transforming organizational culture
including incorporating sustainability in school cur-
ricula was found to have significant impacts on
students’ mindsets (Franquesa-Soler and Sandoval-
Rivera 2019, Goldman et al 2018). A study on light
metering in Portuguese schools revealed opportun-
ities to reduce lighting energy use with more use
of daylight (Lourenço et al 2019). School author-
ities could carry out such monitoring exercises to
identify areas for potential actions. Architectural
and energy efficiency improvements, in addition to
reduced energy consumption and associated cost sav-
ings, also improve indoor air quality and health bene-
fits, and provide a range of other positive social bene-
fits including enhanced user awareness (Matic et al
2016). The role of universities and research organ-
izations is important both to assess the impact of
existing mitigation actions, the potential of future
actions and also to fill the gaps in understanding
of ASI category and their impacts. A review on
green buildings between 2000 and 2016 identified
green and cool roofs, vertical greening systems, life
cycle assessment and rating systems and ICTs among
the prominent mitigation action areas in research
(Zhao et al 2019).
Studies show participants lack awareness or have
inadequate or incorrect information regarding appli-
ance use leading to wasteful behavior (Withanage
et al 2016). Cheah et al (2018) propose a framework
based on three criteria: (a) reframing sustainability as
a future of others’ to ‘present for us’, (b) respons-
ible consumption and (c) consumption feedback
to encourage responsible electricity consumption.
Providing online and active feedback on energy con-
sumption can drive behavior change (Ahvenniemi
and Häkkinen 2019). These can be overcome by
actions that can direct change through ‘product or
system led innovations’ or ‘behavior-led’ to direct
users toward more sustainable behavior. The diverse
stakeholders in the building sector often make upscal-
ing challenging as many of these solutions require
cooperation among multiple actors. Often a single
organization/actor can make a powerful change
as evidenced through the example of successful
actions in educational institutions. Sustainable
decarbonization of the building sector hinges on
a combination of technology and social measure
and would require ambitious and simultaneous
effort from policymakers, spatial planners and
households to facilitate an equitable transition
(figure 5).
4. Discussion
We could successfully bin the mitigation actions in
ASI categories. How each one is linked to SDGs is
also done. We could link each of these to SDGs and
identify actors for each mitigation action for each
study. Binning of the literature by country was also
carried out. Table 1provides concrete examples in
each ASI category. However, in many policy dia-
logues, knowledge dissemination workshops we came
across two most frequently asked questions (FAQs):
which action is connected with the maximum num-
ber of SDGs and how to compare that across actions?
And the second question is that the larger the spread
of the actor network, the harder it is to coordinate,
so how can we know the size of the actor pool that
drives various actions? So, in this section, we present
three graphical views to answer these FAQs for three
sectors (section 4.1). Also, we discuss inter-sectoral
linkages (section 4.2) and the impact of digitalization
(section 4.3).
4.1. Sector-specific discussion: relative SDG link
and spread of actor network
Figure 6shows that all of the shift category actions are
positively linked with more than 50% of the SDGs;
shared mobility and EVs in improve categories are
positively linked to 50% of SDGs but are also not
devoid of negative linkages. All actions in avoid cat-
egories are linked to less than 50% of SDGs, but are
devoid of any negative linkage and also need a lower
spread of actor network and so are easier to imple-
ment with relatively less coordination need. Public
transport requires the involvement of 100% of the
actors and therefore needs more effort in coordina-
tion.
In figure 7we notice the least trade-offs with
SDGs of various actions except for the two in the
improve category, materials efficiency and smart
energy management. Avoid and shift categories of
actions have all positive SDG links and no trade-
offs but with a maximum of 50% of SDGs. Except
for technological efficiency improvements, actor net-
work needs are also relatively smaller and less than
50%.
In figure 8it is interesting to note that in the build-
ing sector interventions, the avoid category have the
maximum of positive SDG links with some minor
trade-offs, but the actor network is also relatively
larger compared to others. However, in the improve
11
Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
Table 1. Wider impact of different sectoral interventions. SDG icons reproduced with permission from
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/. The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does
not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States.
SDGs Sector
ASI
categories
Synergies (+), trade-offs (−) and
uncertain impacts (±)
Evidence (also refer to
supplementary file)
+Using active modes (cycling)
generates income for the local
communities
Transport Shift
+Active transport modes are
low-cost methods for accessing
basic services
(Gilderbloom et al 2016,
Skayannis et al 2019,
Macmillan et al 2020)
Building Shift +Switch to clean energy can
help reduce poverty
(Poblete-Cazenave
and Pachauri 2018,
Rosenthal et al 2018)
Transport Shift +Shift to active travel (walking
and cycling) increases physical
activity leading to reduced
mortality
(Doorley et al 2015,
Lin et al 2018, Schneider
and Willman 2019,
+Replacing car trips with active
modes can contribute to targets
relating to non-communicable
disease; road traffic injury
Useche et al 2019,
Macmillan et al 2020)
−Traffic crashes discourage the
use of cycling
Improve +Using low or no-carbon fuel
and efficient car help in reduced
air pollution which delivers
direct health benefits.
(Yang et al 2018)
Industry Improve +Optimization of building
energy system with waste heat
from industry for better thermal
comfort
(Safaei et al 2015,
Fraccascia 2019)
Avoid +Choice in favour of
improved lighting, ventilation,
architectural design to avoid
artificial air conditioning
need to enhance thermal
comfort, improve indoor air
quality and therefore have
consequent benefits for health
and well-being
(Romero-Pérez et al
2017)
Building Shift +Clean cooking improves
indoor air quality and overall
well being
(Poblete-Cazenave
and Pachauri 2018,
Rosenthal et al 2018,
Batchelor et al 2019)
Avoid ±While green buildings by
design are expected to improve
indoor air quality, in some cases,
green building certifications
and green products may not
necessarily promote indoor
air quality and in some cases
result in adverse outcomes
through exposure to hazardous
substances
(Steinemann et al 2017)
Transport Shift +Urban environments that
enable active travel modes for
trips have the potential to reduce
physical and financial barriers
to participating in education for
women
(Bigerna et al 2019,
Macmillan et al 2020)
Buildings Avoid +Better indoor air quality
and thermal comfort in school
buildings could improve the
students’ performance and help
make sustainable lifestyle choices
(Hu 2017,
Franquesa-Soler and
Sandoval-Rivera 201,
2019, Goldman et al
2018)
12
Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
Table 1. (Continued.)
SDGs Sector
ASI
categories Synergies (+) and trade-offs (−)
Evidence (also refer to
supplementary file)
Transport Shift +Digitalization has helped women
use more carpooling due to the
built-in safety features
(Arora et al 2016,
Mitra and Nash 2019,
Macmillan et al 2020)
+Urban environments that enable
active travel modes for trips have
the potential to reduce physical and
financial barriers to participating in
education for women
+Scaling up active modes (through
careful local urban design and
transport planning) can reduce
gender inequities in access to basic
services, healthcare and education
Improve −Females in the age group of 35–45
is reluctant to join vehicle sharing as
they have to drop their children at
school
(Malodia and Singla
2016)
Buildings Shift +Incentives to shift to cleaner
cooking fuels has a significant
benefit to women from reduced
indoor air pollution and overall
well-being
(Poblete-Cazenave
and Pachauri 2018,
Rosenthal et al 2018)
Industry Avoid +As water is used to convert energy
into useful forms, the reduction in
industrial energy demand can lead
to reduced water consumption and
waste water, resulting in more clean
water for other sectors
(Menato et al 2017,
Fraccascia 2019)
+Efficient water management
under industrial symbiosis help
in improved utilization of water
resources
Buildings Shift +Building design can help reduce
energy and water demand, and waste
water generation through building
design
(Poblete-Cazenave and
Pachauri 2018)
Transport Shift +Commuting through public
transport and using active modes
save energy
(Trinh and Linh 2018,
Sovacool et al 2019)
Improve −EVs still consume a considerable
amount of energy and contribute
to other external effects such as
congestion
(Langbroek et al 2017)
Industry Shift −In some cases, technologies like
additive manufacturing may lead to
higher consumption of electricity if
not operated efficiently
(Liu et al 2018)
Improve +Various energy efficiency
measures and technological
innovation contributes in avoid
some energy use in industry and
thereby contribute in total supply
pull of energy and improved energy
supply
(Javied et al 2015,
Matinaro et al 2019)
Buildings Shift +Access to modern energy fuels
especially for cooking is among
the most significant aspects of a
transition to clean energy
(Poblete-Cazenave
and Pachauri 2018,
Rosenthal et al 2018)
Improve −Building Integrated Photovoltaic
(PV), distributed renewable gener-
ation and solar water heaters help
achieve targets under SDG 7
(Mbakwe 2016,
Salpakari and Lund
2016)
(Continued)
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Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
Table 1. (Continued.)
SDGs Sector
ASI
categories Synergies (+) and trade-offs (−)
Evidence (also refer to
supplementary file)
Transport Shift +Shifting toward active
modes esp. bike/cycles increase
demand for bike repair shops,
bike parking which enhances
employment opportunities
(Gilderbloom et al 2016)
Industry Avoid +Industrial symbiosis promote
industrial innovation through
technology, hence creates new
decent job opportunity
(Safarzadeh and
Rasti-Barzoki 2019)
Buildings Shift +Enhanced efficiency and
reduced consumption reduce
costs for households.
(Ahvenniemi and
Häkkinen 2019)
+Better indoor environment
enhances productivity
Transport Avoid +Proper infrastructure
encourages transit-oriented
development and avoid
ownership of private vehicles
(Khan et al 2016,
Sjöman et al 2020)
Shift +Shift to active travel mode and
acceptance of public transport
needs adequate infrastructure
(Bonasif 2017, Lelono
et al 2018, Trinh and
Linh 2018, Carroll et al
−In developing countries
weather conditions and
unreliable connectivity affect
the lack of incentives to improve
existent public transportation.
Also lack of proper service
delivery like dirty station, rude
staff, low-quality buses, less
safety, careless bus drivers and
ticket controllers inhibit shift to
public transport
2019, Wethyavivorn and
Sukwattanakorn 2019,
Whittle et al 2019)
Improve +Shared mobility offers
potential for technological
innovation (app-enabled ride
sharing)
(Ma et al 2018a,2018b)
+Larger penetration of electric
vehicles requires innovative
business models
Industry Improve +Promotion of industrial
innovation through technological
upgradation, energy efficiency,
industrial networking system
and clustering act as a demand
-side mitigation actions to reduce
energy demand in industrial
process
(Ashraf et al 2018, Guo
et al 2018, Hens et al
2018, Safarzadeh and
Rasti-Barzoki 2019)
Buildings Improve +Research in energy systems,
monitoring devices including
smart-grids, smart-meters,
flexible technology combinations
spur green innovations
(Boßmann et al 2015,
Salpakari and Lund
2016)
Transport Shift +Access to bicycle lanes or cycle
tracks increase the odds of female
commuters using bicycles
(Arora et al 2016,
Mitra and Nash 2019).
+Digitalization has helped
women use more carpooling
due to the built-in safety features
Buildings Improve Inequitable access to cooling,
especially with reference to air
conditioning will result in energy
poverty and undermine SDG7
(Mastrucci et al 2019)
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Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
Table 1. (Continued.)
SDGs Sector
ASI
categories Synergies (+) and trade-offs (−)
Evidence (also refer to
supplementary file)
Transport Avoid +Proper infrastructure encourages
transit-oriented development and
avoid ownership of private vehicles
(Khan et al 2016,
Sjöman et al 2020)
Shift +Expanding public transport and
decreasing private vehicle ownership
reduces congestion fostering
sustainable cities
(Fenton 2017)
Industry Avoid +Use of by-products through circular
resource management system helps in
avoid demand of virgin raw materials
in industrial process
(ElMassah 2018)
Buildings Avoid, Shift,
Improve
+Sustainable design and construction
of buildings including the use of
renewable energy technologies such
as solar lead to sustainable cities and
communities
(Ascione 2017,
Balaban and de Oliveira
2017, Alawneh et al
2018, van der Meulen
2019)
−Non-committal policy for green
roofs is not an effective way to prepare
cities sufficiently for future climate
changes
Transport Avoid, Shift,
Improve
+Sharing mobility/reducing car
ownership/using EV help to move
toward sustainable consumption
(Chardon 2019)
Industry Avoid +Material efficiency in industry
can be achieved through sustainable
consumption of raw materials and
other inputs of production like water
and energy
(Menato et al 2017,
ElMassah 2018, Shahbazi
et al 2018, Soo et al 2018,
Meskers et al 2019)
+On the demand side sustainable
consumption will lead to avoid
demand of some manufacturing goods
−High price of renewable virgin
material leads to more consumption
of non-renewable materials
−Mitigation actions in transport
sector like EV and light weight vehicle
may increase demand for some virgin
material in automobile sector
Buildings Avoid +Green buildings including elements
of passive construction, water and
energy efficiency help achieve SDG 12
goals
(Alawneh et al 2018)
Shift +Innovation in IoT and smart
metering raises awareness and can
reduce consumption
(Cetin and Kallus 2016,
Casado-Mansilla et al
2018)
−Higher efficiency could potentially
lead to rebound effect
Shift, Improve +Responsible consumption from
appliance, purchase, solar PV for
self-consumption and use of energy
efficient appliances
(Abdessalem and Labidi
2016, Mizobuchi and
Takeuchi 2016)
Buildings Shift +Clean cooking fuels reduce
environmental burdens associated
with biomass use
(Rosenthal et al 2018)
+The benefits of shift to Liquified
Petroleum Gas (LPG) need to be
evaluated against the impacts of
LPG extraction and processing. Also,
LPG could entail additional costs for
poorer households
(Continued)
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Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
Table 1. (Continued.)
SDGs Sector
ASI
categories Synergies (+) and trade-offs (−)
Evidence (also refer to
supplementary file)
Transport Avoid/Shift +Shifting to active modes and
reducing car demand preserve
land that would have been
otherwise used to construct and
maintain parking garages and
surface parking lots
(Gilderbloom et al 2016)
Transport Avoid +Policies (including vehicle
registration tax, parking
costs) focusing on sustainable
transportation can reduce
vehicle ownership
(Khan et al 2016,
Wethyavivorn and
Sukwattanakorn 2019)
Shift +Policy makers should jointly
promote public transport and
the benefits of using active mode
(Ceccato and Diana
2018)
Improve +Policies like subsidizing
electric vehicles for greater
adoption, odd–even car rule
help in promoting sustainable
transport habits
(Rudolph 2016,
Zhang et al 2018)
−Subsidies may lead to higher
sales among the active travellers
Industry Improve +Emergence of stronger
financial institutional
mechanisms to provide support
in form of tax deduction and
subsidy to encourage the use
of energy efficient and clean
technology
(Pillay and Buys 2016,
Bertarelli and Lodi 2019)
Transport Avoid +Multiple stakeholder
partnerships are important for
reducing vehicle ownership
(Wethyavivorn and
Sukwattanakorn 2019)
Shift +Multiple stakeholder
partnerships are important
for widespread adoption of the
public transport system
(Rarasati and Iskandar
2017, Macmillan et al
2020)
+Scaling up active modes
requires the development
and strengthening of
transdisciplinary partnerships
for planning
Improve +Policies like subsidizing
electric vehicles for greater
adoption, odd–even car rule
help in promoting sustainable
transport habits
(Rudolph 2016, Zhang
et al 2018)
−Subsidies may lead to higher
sales among the active travellers
Industry Avoid +Symbiotic relationship among
stakeholders is a key factor to
run a successful industrial cluster
(ElMassah 2018, Huang
et al 2019)
Buildings Avoid +Co-design and development
of energy solutions and
mentorship using local and
indigenous knowledge can
enable higher adoption
(Franquesa-Soler and
Sandoval-Rivera 2019)
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Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
-100.00%
-50.00%
0.00%
50.00%
100.00%
Reduction in ownership
of vehicle
Urban living in compact
cties
Increase use of active
travel
More use of Public
transport
Shared mobility / Bike-
sharing
EV/ZEV
Hydrogen Buses
Multi-modal integration
Ecodriving
evorpmItfihSdiovA
Tra n sp o rt
% of SDGs with synergies % of SDGs with trade-offs % of Actors needed
Figure 6. Of 16 SDGs what percentages of SDGs are positively (synergies) and negatively (trade-offs) linked to various actions. Of
the total number of actors/stakeholders what percentage needs to be involved in making an action successful.
‐100.00%
‐80.00%
‐60.00%
‐40.00%
‐20.00%
0.00%
20.00%
40.00%
60.00%
80.00%
100.00%
Industrial symbiosys and
Eco‐industrial park
Circular economy
Additive manufacturing
Use of renewable/
low‐carbon
energy/electrification
Material efficiency
Technological efficiency
Smart energy management
Smart multi energy system
Waste heat recovery
Environmental management
system/ labelling
evorpmItfihSdiovA
Industry
% of SDGs with synergies % of SDGs with trade‐offs % of Actors needed
Figure 7. Of 16 SDGs what percentages of SDGs are positively (synergies) and negatively (trade-offs) linked to various actions. Of
the total number of actors/stakeholders what percentage needs to be involved in making an action successful.
category, the actor network needed for efficient appli-
ances is more compared to others in the category, but
SDG links are also more. Some actions such as clean
cooking, heat pumps and district heating have all pos-
itive SDG links.
This analysis provides very useful insights which
are novel in this study and provides a useful guide
for policymakers, and for that matter for any of the
decision makers.
4.2. Interaction across sectors
For actions toward sustainable urban mobility,
adequate and well-designed road infrastructure and
compact urban planning are essential. especially pub-
lic transport and non-motorized transport. This
helps in attracting new residents because of reduced
transportation costs, and increases their willingness
to pay for the property. This increases housing prop-
erty prices and governments can earn additional tax
17
Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
‐100.00%
‐50.00%
0.00%
50.00%
100.00%
Building design
and construction
including…
Energy saving
behaviour
heat pumps,
district heating
and cooling
Clean cooking
ICT (sensors,
metering, smart
buildings)
Low impact
options (more
efficient…
solar water
heaters
distributed
renewable
generation
evorpmItfihSdiovA
Buildings
% of SDGs with synergies % of SDGs with trade‐offs % of Actors needed
Figure 8. Of 16 SDGs what percentages of SDGs are positively (synergies) and negatively (trade-offs) linked to various actions. Of
the total number of actors/stakeholders what percentage needs to be involved in making an action successful.
revenue (Shen et al 2018). A case-study from Seattle
based on four completed bus transit-oriented devel-
opment projects reveals that the value of the houses
within 0.5 miles radius of the projects has increased
significantly (Shen et al 2018). Also, increasing travel-
ers’ willingness to adopt active modes largely depends
upon the built-in facilities (walking and biking lanes,
the distance between buildings and transit shops).
Both transit-oriented development and acceptance of
active modes demand joint action from the construc-
tion industry and the planners (road and urban).
Also, the construction industry is innovating ways
to build infrastructure that can facilitate the needs
of sustainable mobility like the use of rubberized
asphalt concrete to improve the performance of pave-
ments (Wang et al 2018a) and the use of recycled con-
crete aggregate as the base course of new pavements
(Reza et al 2018).
The industry sector has obvious backward link-
ages in supplying end-use products to the trans-
port and buildings. Consequently, demand changes
in these sectors directly impact industrial produc-
tion. For example, circular economy principles such
as recycling of construction waste, sharing economy
such as shared workspaces, etc reduce the demand
for built space (Liu and Lin 2016). The trans-
ition toward clean mobility impacts the demand
for non-ferrous metals, in some cases leading to an
adverse impact on material consumption and in a
broader context of environmental sustainability. EV
will increase demand for lithium, cobalt and nickel
for battery manufacturing (Meskers et al 2019) and
manufacturing of lightweight vehicles will result in
increased demand for aluminum (Soo et al 2018).
Industry being part of the societal transition plays an
important role in enabling this transformation. An
important linkage between buildings and industry is
the use of waste heat from industrial production for
heating buildings (Safaei et al 2015).
A number of studies have examined the life
cycle impacts of building materials and implica-
tions for the construction industry (Muller et al
2019). Sustainable construction practices includ-
ing the use of alternate building material options
include substitution with fly ash, wood, and local
materials, recycling and re-use of construction waste
and extending building lifetimes have a significant
impact on the industry sector through the demand
and production of energy intensive materials such as
steel and concrete (Dhar et al 2020). Urban plan-
ning and design actions including compact urban
form, transit-oriented development, and vehicle to
grid are examples where buildings and transportation
intersect.
4.3. Digitalization
Information and communication technologies have
emerged as one of the biggest enablers of various
demand side changes in all the three sectors through
improved interconnectedness, information sharing
and use of artificial intelligence.
Shared mobility is used by commuters is gaining
wider acceptance and it is made possible due to digit-
alization. Various ‘apps’ are available for sharing cabs
(e.g. Uber, Ola, Grab, Lyft), owned cars (e.g. sRide
in India, Bahon, Pathao in Bangladesh, BlaBlaCar in
Europe) and bikes (e.g. Mobike in China, Gojek in
Indonesia, Thailand). The biggest carpool and bike
pool app in India, sRide has made office commutes
convenient and led to 80% of the transportation cost
18
Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
savings for commuters (sRide 2019). This app offers
various features like a safety toolkit, real time track-
ing and 24 ×7 customer support. They help coordin-
ate transport for commuters on the same route.
Commuters from densely populated Indian cities like
Mumbai commented that they find their service on
sRide (2019) hassle-free, timely, economical and safe.
Liu (2018) reported that commuters in China used
Mobike to travel a total distance of 5.6 billion km in
2016 nearly equivalent to 1.26 million tons of carbon
emissions. Smart transportation with the help of IoT
is not only making daily commute economical, easy
and safe but also reducing carbon footprint (Pira-
muthu and Zhou 2016).
For industrial demand, digitalization itself is not
a mitigation action, but it enables optimization of
energy use in industrial processes through enhanced
energy efficiency with improved information shar-
ing (ElMassah 2018), help in the development of
additive manufacturing (Nascimento et al 2019) and
industrial communication networking system (Liu
et al 2015). At the consumer end, digitalization
has enabled the creation of an alternative form of
provisioning for clothes swapping through various
apps, and also creating pop-up marketplaces (Holmes
2018). Dedicated websites for clothes swapping, like
‘swishing.co.uk’, ‘swopped.co.uk’ or apps like ‘This
for That’, have provided a new marketplace for used
clothes (Holmes 2018) and also contributed to avoid-
ing the demand for new clothes and hence the tex-
tile industry. The use of digital media in daily activ-
ities like switching to electronic newspapers is redu-
cing demand for paper newspapers (Permatasari et al
2018).
The building sector has seen an increasing focus
on ‘smart buildings’, ‘intelligent buildings’ that
include a significant level of automation at the end-
user level, device-level or system level. This includes
the use of ICTs that can measure, record, and influ-
ence operations (Fabi et al 2017). A number of studies
show smart meters and sensors that provide real-time
information on energy consumption or enable digital
building–occupant interactions to enhance awareness
of users and can assist the shift toward sustainable
consumption (Jensen et al 2018). A recent study also
showed that state-of-the-art equipment that provides
specific feedback on user behavior can enable sus-
tained behavior change.
5. Conclusions
For a long time, the discourse on climate change
mitigation action has focused on the supply side
mostly around technological advancement and/or
fuel change. With rising urgency in accelerated mit-
igation action in a short period of time, literat-
ure is also focusing on the role of demand side
solutions in climate change mitigation. Specifically,
in the transition phase how demand can be avoided,
shifted or improved to scale up and accelerate the
momentum of mitigation actions. In the forthcom-
ing IPCC Sixth Assessment report, an entirely new
chapter is dedicated to demand and services besides
usual end use demand sectors. The report also frames
climate change mitigation in the context of sustain-
able development. The systematic search for evid-
ence in the present study is based on systematic
screening of literature relevant to the demand side
of the mitigation actions for transport, industry
and building and makes a unique contribution
by synthesizing the existing studies from 2015 by
three layered analytical framing. This study gener-
ates information that can help the new assessment
report.
A compilation of demand side actions across sec-
tors needs a common and comparable approach. The
ASI category is one such framing that offers the
advantage of comparability. While it has so far been
applied extensively to the transport sector, the paper
attempts to use this framing to collate actions in all
three major demand side sectors—transport, build-
ings and industry. Secondly, the aim was to under-
stand how various actors need to play their roles in
various categories and how such actions are linked to
wider goals under SDGs.
Findings clearly show that upscaling actions for
mitigation would require combined efforts among
policymakers, and various stakeholders like house-
holds, individuals, city planners, and educators.
There is a clear scope for exploring new ways of
organizing businesses/services taking advantage of
options that create small local supply chains and also
with a role for digitalization megatrends in certain
fields of actions. Also, cross-sectoral collaboration,
resource sharing and information exchange acceler-
ate mitigation outcomes. The study identifies the key
enabling factors and actors that can facilitate such
a change. The role of governments in incentivizing
these solutions through targets, performance stand-
ards, and regulatory instruments like tax exemption,
subsidy, new pricing policies, monitoring compliance
is obvious. A survey of 43 professionals on green
buildings (Darko et al 2017) indicated that imple-
mentation of standards for design and construction
was the most significant factor driving the adoption
of green building technologies, followed by factors
such as benefits of energy efficiency, health and well-
being, resource conservation and reduced lifecycle
costs. For avoiding mobility demand and shifting
to active modes and public transport, government
and spatial (city) planners are the key actors and
help in avoiding service demand and emissions. For
the industry sector to create a symbiotic relation-
ship among the firms, facilitating the role of the
IS and EIP operators and policy support from the
government is crucial. Strengthening of the financial
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Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
institution with innovative financial support mech-
anism is also needed. The role of research organiza-
tions is also important to develop a knowledge base
for the possible use of by-products and technological
development.
Behavioral change is often constrained by
non-behavioral factors like policy, education, and
infrastructure. Especially high upfront costs of low
carbon options, inadequate infrastructure, incor-
rect understanding or low awareness regarding
sustainable options and socio-cultural factors define
behavioral choices. A better understanding of the
costs and benefits of these solutions could facilitate
higher adoption.
Implementation of mitigation actions that can
help stabilize global warming at 1.5 ◦C has multiple
synergies across a range of sustainable development
dimensions. Not surprisingly, we find a number of
actions across all three sectors that offer opportunit-
ies to deliver simultaneous benefits for climate change
and SDGs. Clean cooking fuels, investments in pub-
lic transport and sustainable and green buildings are
examples of such solutions. All avoid actions and
most of the shift actions entail reduced consumption
while most of the improve actions result in responsible
consumption therefore aligning with SDG 12.
Most of these demand side mitigation actions
showed positive linkages with SDGs 7, 9 and 11.
The recent upscaling of digitalization offers size-
able opportunities for industrial innovation. Initiat-
ives such as active transport, passive design, cleaner
cooking fuels could offer the same level of service
with additional synergies (co-benefits) across several
SDGs.
The review brings out several studies that point to
the need for looking at the longer term in a sustainab-
ility context. A case in point is green buildings where
performance could possibly decline over time and this
can only be reviewed through long-term monitor-
ing studies (Zaid et al 2017, Ge et al 2018). Simil-
arly, the rebound effect of energy efficiency occurs
over time and should be an important consideration
in designing energy policies. Similarly, switching to
cleaner cooking fuels is a special case where the trans-
formation needs to be viewed beyond its energy bene-
fits as it delivers significantly wider benefits for gender
equity and development in low- and middle-income
countries.
Although the review was limited to only one
database, Scopus, findings present evidence of the
diversity of actions including emerging innovations
that reduce energy consumption, generate cost sav-
ings and offer sizeable opportunities to achieve
targeted benefits. Digitalization through ICT and
IoT has emerged as a significant enabler of vari-
ous demand side mitigation actions. There are case
studies to show that technologies such as ride-
sharing in transportation, enhanced efficiency to
smart buildings, appliances and smart meters have
enhanced service delivery, while reducing material
consumption and CO2emissions in the app sector are
some examples.
Several actions including public transit, industry
clusters or district heating are enabled by integrating
into existing planning regulations. Spatial planners
(e.g. urban planners and architects) through planning
interventions including zoning, land use changes,
passive design strategies have a significant influence
to shape urban form to a more sustainable and cli-
mate responsive one. Emerging developments in ICT
provide for a significant opportunity for industrial
innovation in devices and services.
One important finding of this study is that
demand side actions cannot be effective enough
in isolation. For optimizing the mitigation actions,
the interconnectedness across sectors is import-
ant. Demand side mitigation actions in the trans-
port sector are highly dependent on city planning
and infrastructure and the construction sector is
an integral part of the building sector. However,
for the industry, it is found that some demand
side actions of other sectors have some trade-
off in industrial production. In order to achieve
an overall emission abatement, it is important to
develop a cross-sectoral framework. Similarly, tech-
nological solutions can be more effective if comple-
mented with sustainable behavioral responses of end
users.
The success of many of the demand side actions
depends on the willingness of people to modify their
behavior, which is rooted in complex economic,
social and cultural circumstances besides the design
of built structures. Studies have also highlighted the
challenges and complexities involved in switching to
a sustainable lifestyle (Konrad 2015). In many cases,
it is a lack of awareness or incorrect understand-
ing and these can be corrected by enhancing aware-
ness, through better reporting and feedback on con-
sumption. Organizations could play a significant role
in shaping behavior by monitoring and understand-
ing consumption habits to set a sustainability cul-
ture, through regulations and targets such as switch-
ing off appliances when not in use, reducing per-
sonal electricity consumption, bike to work, etc. Edu-
cational institutions such as schools and universit-
ies have a significant role to play by incorporating
sustainability into curricula, empowering students
to make sustainable lifestyle choices, and through
research and living labs, offer a testbed for poten-
tial solutions that can co-deliver mitigation and well-
being within the premises but also at a wider spatial
scale to neighborhood and the city and temporally
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Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
by shaping mindsets of occupants toward responsible
consumption.
We have adopted a semi-systematic but compre-
hensive review method where we have systematically
searched and screened the existing huge body of lit-
erature using the Scopus database and only literature
in the English language. This is because performing
a full systematic review is time-consuming, resource-
intensive, focuses on a narrow range of questions and
also prevents in-depth analysis (Sovacool et al 2018).
However, studies also suggest that the use of a few
more databases ensures adequate coverage (Bramer
et al 2017). We are aware of this limitation in our
study but we feel that this study has attempted to
deliver a comprehensive in-depth analysis of demand
side mitigation actions and SDGs, and actors’ role.
Most studies identify benefits that could indirectly
contribute to SDGs, while few studies directly estab-
lish linkages with SDGs, especially at the target level
covering the study period. The findings from several
case studies are context specific. The study recognizes
that SDG relationships are complex and often not
easily quantifiable, non-linear and vary across time.
Few studies look at impacts of mitigation pathways,
policies and actions on reducing poverty, affordabil-
ity of technologies and equity impacts. Future stud-
ies could take a deeper look into understanding these
complex interlinkages, especially spatial and temporal
trade-offs between mitigation and SDGs, and maybe
also in many other country contexts.
Data availability statement
All data that support the findings of this study are
included within the article (and any supplementary
files).
Acknowledgments
Shreya Some acknowledges the financial assistance
received under Senior Research Fellowship from
University Grants Commission (UGC) of India.
Nandini Das duly acknowledges Global Change
Programme-Jadavpur University for infrastructural
support to carry out her research work. Shreya
extends her gratitude to Mercator Research Institute
on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC),
Berlin where she attended a training workshop on sys-
tematic review in October, 2018. Minal Pathak grate-
fully acknowledges the support of the Opportunit-
ies for Climate Mitigation and Sustainable Develop-
ment (OPTIMISM) project NE/S012834/1 and the
support of Mr Shaurya Patel and Mr Shannay Rawat,
Research Assistant, Global Centre for Environment
and Energy, Ahmedabad University for their support
with library search. Authors acknowledge with thanks
the very valuable comments from the anonymous
referees. For completion of part of this article the
authors acknowledge the financial support under
EDIT-AIT project at the Asian Institute of Techno-
logy, Thailand, sponsored by Research Institute of
Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE), Japan.
Annexures
Industry: The demand for manufactured goods can
be divided into two categories: intermediate demand
and final demand. The intermediate demand comes
from within the industrial system as raw material
and is categorized under shift and improve categories.
Avoiding demand for industrial products and services
is driven by the final consumer, and is therefore con-
sidered as an additional search term.
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Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
Annex A. List of search terms used.
Transport Query 1 (Population): transport∗OR vehicle OR travel OR ∗mobil∗
Query 2 (Intervention):
Technical and Infrastructural change:
‘active travel’ OR (‘intermodal’ AND (‘travel’ OR ‘transport’)) OR ‘EV’ OR (‘electric’
W/1 (‘car’ OR ‘vehicle’ OR ‘taxi’ OR ‘rickshaw’)) OR eco-driv∗OR ‘small∗vehicle∗’
OR ‘lightweigh∗vehicle∗’ OR ‘rickshaw∗’ OR ‘bio-based diesel fuel’ OR ‘bio fuel’ OR
‘hydrogen fuel’ OR (‘public’ W/3 (‘trans∗’ OR ‘bus’)) OR (‘bus’ OR ‘metro’ OR ‘subway’
OR ‘train’ OR ‘light rail’ OR ‘heavy rail’ OR ‘tram’ OR ‘railway’) OR (‘bicycle lane∗’ OR
‘bi-cycle lane∗’ OR ‘bicycle track∗’ OR ‘bi-cycle track∗’) OR ‘rapid transit’ OR (‘bicycle’
OR ‘pedestrian∗’ OR ‘walking’ OR ‘cycling’ OR ‘rickshaw∗’) W/2 (‘infrastructure∗’ OR
‘path’ OR ‘paths’ OR ‘trail∗’ OR ‘network’ OR ‘route∗’ OR ‘corridor∗’ OR ‘lane∗’)
Behavioral change:
((‘car’ OR ‘vehicle’ OR ‘automobile’) AND (‘use∗’ OR ‘usage∗’ OR ‘using’ OR ‘purchas∗’
OR ‘buy∗’ OR ‘choice’ OR ‘shar∗’ OR ‘ preference’) AND (‘behavi∗’ OR ‘response’))
OR ‘modal shift’ OR ‘park and ride’ OR ‘bicycle shar∗’ OR ‘bik∗’OR ‘car pool∗’OR
‘pedestrian∗’ OR ‘walk∗’ OR ‘bicycl∗’ OR ‘cycl∗’ OR (‘response’ W/3 ‘congestion
charge’)
Query 3a (Outcome): cost∗OR ‘trade-off∗’ OR ∗benefit∗OR ‘co-benefit∗’ OR synerg∗
OR ∗link∗OR interact∗OR ∗connect∗
Query 3b (Outcome): ‘SDG∗’ OR ‘Sustainable Development’ OR‘sustainable
development goal∗’
Industry Query 1(Population): Industr∗OR manufact∗OR product∗OR sector∗
Query 2 (Intervention):
Technical and Infrastructural change:
‘Carbon dioxide capture’ OR ‘Carbon dioxide utilization and storage’ OR CCS OR
CCU OR ‘energy efficiency’ OR ‘eco industr∗’ OR cluster OR ‘industrial symbiosis’
OR ‘eco innovation’ OR ‘∗industrial park∗’ OR circular∗OR ‘circular econom∗’ OR
remanufature∗OR ‘green industr∗’ OR tax∗OR ‘carbon tax’ OR ‘strategic management’
Behavior/demand-specific
(‘energy demand’ OR ‘energy W/1 reduc∗’ OR ‘energy W/2 consumption’ OR respon∗
OR shar∗OR preferenc∗) AND behavi∗
Query 3a (Outcome): cost∗OR ‘trade-off∗’ OR ∗benefit∗OR ‘co-benefit∗’ OR synerg∗
OR ∗link∗OR interact∗OR ∗connect∗
Query 3b (Outcome): ‘SDG∗’ OR ‘Sustainable Development’ OR‘ sustainable
development goal∗’
Building Query 1(Population): Residential OR commercial OR office OR hous∗OR home∗OR
building∗OR envelop∗OR indoor∗OR room OR hospital OR school
Query 2 (Intervention):
Technical and Infrastructural change:
‘thermal comfort’ OR ‘heat∗’ OR ‘cool∗’ OR ‘low embedded energy’ OR ‘passive house’
OR ‘net zero’ OR ‘mixed mode’ OR ‘zero energy’ OR ‘green building∗’ OR ‘green design’
OR ‘sustainable design’ OR ‘smart meter∗’ OR (‘low-carbon’ W/2 ‘materials’)
Device-specific
(appliance∗OR light∗OR ‘air condition∗’ OR ‘refrigerat∗’ OR ‘cook∗’ OR ‘electrical
device∗’ OR ‘energy service∗’ OR ‘electricity’) AND
Behaviour/demand-specific
(use∗OR purchas∗OR buy∗OR choice∗OR shar∗OR preferenc∗OR ‘consumption’
AND ‘behavio∗r’) OR (‘lifestyle’ OR ‘rebound’)
Query 3a (Outcome): cost∗OR ‘trade-off∗’ OR ∗benefit∗OR ‘co-benefit∗’ OR synerg∗
OR ∗link∗OR interact∗OR ∗connect∗
Query 3b (Outcome): ‘SDG∗’ OR ‘Sustainable Development’ OR ‘sustainable
development goal∗’
We used ∗for wildcards.
Annex B
•Title: Presence of specific sector names or their
synonyms. Mention of mitigation actions that the
authors later identified as ASI category
•Abstract: In addition to the criteria for title
selection, mention of implementation of the
actions, hint of cross-sectoral linkages or deep
decarbonization or zero emission
•Full text: At this level the selection criteria is
narrowed down to articles that aligned with
the research question. These would include
ASI mitigation actions for transport, industry
and buildings, evidence of implementation and
including mention of sustainable development
or sustainable development goals or sustainabil-
ity. Experimental, modeling and lab-based studies
were excluded from the final analysis.
22
Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
Given the diversity in the demand among these
three sectors, apart from these general criteria for
selection, we have also followed some sector-specific
criteria.
Transport: While screening through the titles,
specific mention of supply chain, manufacturing or
related words, vehicle design, microgrids integra-
tion of electric vehicles, distribution grids in pres-
ence of EVs charging stations are excluded. Dur-
ing screening through abstracts along with all those
mentioned in title screening and power flow ana-
lysis, studies regarding life-cycle of batteries assess-
ment, implementing dual fuel, EV batteries recycling,
rail-line or pavement or road construction materials
or maintenance, choice between sustainable mobil-
ity plans by policy makers are excluded. At the third
stage of screening we excluded studies which did
not include sustainability/sustainable development/
SDGs.
Industry: Title screening included articles which
mention any of the eight major CO2-emitting indus-
tries mentioned in IPCC AR5, namely, iron and steel,
cement, chemical, pulp and paper, non-ferrous metal,
food processing, textile and leather and mining or
manufacturing industry as a whole. Articles on all
other industries are excluded. At the abstract screen-
ing stage, studies relating to business models for mit-
igation actions, life cycle analysis (LCA) are excluded.
While screening full text studies, we excluded stud-
ies that did not specify any specific demand side
actions. Studies regarding SME other than manufac-
turing industry are excluded. Industrial park design
and business sustainability are also excluded. We
have excluded experimental studies particularly those
which do not have any implementation in real world
settings.
Additional literature has been selected from the
results of a separate search in Google Scholar for
the industrial linkage of some specific demand-side
actions such as the change in demand for pulp and
paper industry with increase in electronic newspa-
pers, reduced textile demands from increase in cloth-
ing longevity, reuse and recycling of textiles, and
altered cement demands from the use of wood ash.
These additional literatures are included based on
the authors’ knowledge from grey literature, news
items of emerging actions on demand reduction at the
end-user level and as we were looking for very spe-
cific actions, in Google Scholar we were getting more
explicit targeted results.
Building: Title screening involved screening of
papers which included studies specific to buildings
sector and mitigation actions on the demand side.
This would automatically exclude studies on other
sectors such as transport and industry, as well as sup-
ply side actions. At the abstract screening stage, a
number of studies were found to focus on construc-
tion materials. These were screened out since these
would involve substitution with other materials and
therefore are addressed in the industry sector. Stud-
ies involving economic dimensions including costs
and benefits of mitigation actions and those relating
to the wider context such as modeled future urban
scenarios were not considered. Similarly, papers
that included theoretical studies except for liter-
ature reviews, such as desk research, lab experi-
ments, simulations or modeling exercises and did not
offer evidence of implementation were excluded. For
example, new and innovative experiments involving
alternate materials, thermal properties, new designs
and approaches for construction and simulations of
energy consumption were not considered. An addi-
tional search was conducted to include articles spe-
cifically on clean cooking, since this is an import-
ant dimension and was not captured in the original
Scopus search.
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Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
Annex C. Articles included after each screening stage.
Count
Screening stage includedaExcluded
Stage 1: Identification
Identified from Scopus using queries listed in annex A
Transport =2284, Industry =2951, Building =2012 6887
Stage 2: Eligibility for inclusion
After duplicates removed
Transport =1710, Industry =2639, Building =1981 6330 590
After title screening
Transport =590, Industry =536, Building =954 2080 2513
After abstract screening
Transport =176, Industry =248, Building =556 980 885
Full-text articles assessed for eligibility
Transport =217, Industry =248, Building =361 826
Stage 3: Finally Included
Additional records included
Transport =6, Industry =8, Building =10 24
Total articles included
Transport =107, Industry =59, Building =128 294
aSector-wise break-up for articles included are provided only.
Please see supplementary file for a detailed list of the articles included for this study.
Annex D. Mitigation actions for mobility service.
Service Avoid Shift Improve
Mobility Reduction in vehicle ownership:
government can
•recompense people for
(voluntary) forfeit of a
(second) car in the household
•impose congestion charge for
driving in the central of the
city
•impose high parking fees and
high taxes on cars
Compact urban planning:
planners can
•adopt long term strategies like
increasing housing supply
near workplace to avoid
mobility demand
•orientation of buildings
toward transit stops to reduce
mobility demand
Active modes: road
planners/government (local)
can
•promote awareness regarding
using active modes
•enhance road safety education
for all users.
•adopt measures like
∗congestion charges,
∗lowered speed limits,
∗reduced road space for
cars;
∗‘car-free Sundays’ in the
city centre and some
residential areas (already
in Bristol).
•improve the nature of the built
environment to encourage
people to walk and bike for
their non-work travel needs
∗introduce new facilities like
reserved bicycle lanes
∗create more walkable
streets
∗create safer pedestrian and
bicycle crossings
∗provide more street space
bicycle facilities
∗constructing new cycling
infrastructures
•provide policies to allow
entrance of bikes in train
(already in Europe)
Hydrogen buses: government
(local) need to
•provide proper fueling
infrastructure
Commuters must be
•willing to pay extra: In
Perugia, Italy commuters
are Willing to Pay (WTP)
30% to 60% over the current
single-trip bus fare to support
introduction of these buses
Electric taxi: government (local)
can
•provide subsidies to convert
private taxis to electric taxis
(suggested for Seoul, South
Korea; China).
•provide battery replacement
scheme
•created provision for charging
facilities
Electric vehicle-EV/zero
emission vehicles-ZEV/
connected. Autonomous
vehicles-CAV: road
planners/government (local)
can
•advertise EV’s environmental
benefits & reduced perceived
risks to attract adopters.
•increase subsidies for ZEV
(as in Germany)
•provide free parking,
•e-road infrastructure
•introduce a separate CO2tax,
•increase fuel costs by tax
elevation,
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Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
Annex D. (Continued.)
Service Avoid Shift Improve
•bike racks on buses
•promote this for medium &
long trips (as done in China)
Supply-chain partners can
•provide secure monitored
parking space for bikes in
transit stations and shopping
districts
•offer bike and transit packages
with reasonable price
•smart phone applications for
pedestrians
universities can
•promote the culture of cycling
by targeting travel related
attitudes and gendered-norms
of mobility
•provide bike safety courses,
bike shop vouchers, secure
bike parking and bike repair
shops
Workplaces/companies can
•motivate workers
(informational emails; hand-
ing out flyers) to commute
to work by bike (practiced in
Boston, USA)
•put advertising; creative
posters
Individuals
•parental encouragement can
help young users adopt cycling
practices
•peer encouragement can help
adopt cycling practices
•Users to encourage their
relatives and friends
Public transit (rail; metro; bus):
Government (Local) can
•disseminate knowledge
and promote the values for
sustainable transportation use
•make transit use more
affordable than driving
•increase efficiency of public
transit.
•provide attractive travel cost
(e.g. discounted ticket in
China);
•provide proper road
infrastructure
•provide public transport
infrastructures in small
and medium-sized cities
(suggested by a study in India)
•increase available charging
infrastructure
•construct new infrastructures
like smart highways
•provide informational
interventions to ensure
individuals try to become
familiar with these new
technologies and modes
Supply-chain partners can
•offer free trials of CAVs or new
forms of shared mobility to
help address misperceptions
about the viability or quality
of alternatives compared to
current choices
Electric boats: government
(local) need to
•provide subsidy for
deployment
Tourists can
•pay price premiums
Multi-modal integration:
planners are
•Integrating metro-rail with
park-and-ride facilities: this
has increased metro rail
ridership in Delhi, India
Ecodriving:
•Heavy electric vehicles drivers
are motivated by the goals of
environmental protection
and cost reduction, and
gamification aspects
Shared mobility: government
can
•impose parking fee on
privately owned cars.
•subside shared modes
Supply-chain partners (car rental
service providers) are
•using ICT to create
app-enabled smart
ride-sharing system
•asking for extra verification
for safety
Commuters are
•willing to use shared mobility
as it is cost savings compared
to public and private transport
Bike-sharing: government (local)
need to
•designing free-floating
bike-sharing system
•bay area bike sharing scheme
•improve the quality of the
road surfaces and bikes, and
traffic safety
(Continued)
25
Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
Annex D. (Continued.)
Service Avoid Shift Improve
Supply-chain partners can
•provide professional training for
bus drivers and ticket controllers,
•provide air-conditioners (China;
India) and wastebaskets on board
(China),
•provide digital traveling services like
bus route information, and schedule
timetable.
•provide Informative and
entertaining bus stops
•upgrade transportation
infrastructure and quality
(suggested by studies in China,
Indonesia and Vietnam)
Employers can
•provide provision of
monthly-prepaid public transport
passes (already used in Seoul and
Tokyo) rather than private transport
allowances
Individuals can
•encourage their relatives and friends
•parents must agree to use public
transit for children’s school travels
Supply-chain partners need to
•increase the availability of the
related equipment
•increase the number of stations and
bike tracks
•provide optimal distribution of
docking stations across the city
along with convenient and secure
storage provisions
•design quality of the bicycles and
the stations; and
•ease the subscribing to and using
the programme.
•properly manage the stations such
that it is never empty (full), causing
out-of-stock events for customers
that want to rent (return) bikes at
such stations
Individuals/commuters can
•use this to solve the first/last mile
problem
Annex E. Mitigation actions for industry (manufactured goods).
Service Avoid Shift Improve
Manufactured
goods Interme-
diate demand
for energy
and material
demand Final
demand of
manufactured
goods
Clustering of industries through
industrial symbiosis (IS) and
eco-industrial park (EIP):
government
•formulate policy to enhance
symbiotic relation
•cooperation among various
government agencies
Industrial practioners/IS
facilitator
•facilitate information sharing
and cooperation
•shared support service
•maintain heterogeneity of the
firms in a cluster
Research institute
•R & D for better/wider use of
by-products
Emerging market places through
digitalization Digital content
creator
•influence people to adopt
sustainable lifestyle
Clean/green technology
government
•encouraging tax/subsidy
policy
Research institute
•R & D and innovation
Circular economy government
•facilitation for better
cooperation and sharing
Research institute
•R & D and innovation
Additive manufacturing use
of renewable/low-carbon
energy/electrification industrial
practioners Clean/green technology
government
•encouraging tax/subsidy policy
Research institute
•R & D and innovation
Smart energy management
Industrial practioners
•facilitation in technology
adoption
Smart multi-energy system
Industrial practioners
•facilitation in technology
adoption
Waste heat recovery government
•formulate policy to enhance
symbiotic relation and clustering
Research institute
•R & D for recovery of waste heat
quantifiably
Environmental management
systems (EMSs) government
•proper labelling system and it is
monitoring
Industrial practioners
•through CSR activity
26
Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
Annex F. Mitigation actions for building (shelter/heating/cooling/lighting) demand.
Service Avoid Shift Improve
Shelter
heating/cooling/
cooking/
lighting
demand
Building design and
construction utilizing
passive strategies such as
shading, form and orientation
of the building, natural
lighting, ventilation or
retrofit (avoiding demand
for heating/cooling),
refurbishment of old
buildings/housing,
green roofs construction
companies/builders/architects
can
•work with industry
stakeholders and
government to improve the
understanding of costs and
benefits of green buildings
•optimise building design to
maximise natural lighting,
ventilation and measures
for resource saving
Governments can
•promote passive
architecture through
building codes
•set standards for building
design and construction
•introduce voluntary
building rating schemes
•facilitate a legal
environment, technical
assistance, financial support
and policy reforms
•incentivise and enable
initiatives such as green
roofs, rainwater harvesting
Organizations can
•show leadership by internal
targets and promoting
green office buildings
Energy saving behavior/use
of ICT/smart sensors/smart
metering Organizations can
•build a culture that
encourages energy saving
behaviour of participants
•conduct regular energy
audits and enhance
transparent reporting
•enforce regulations to set
criteria for energy services
such as lighting, space
heating/cooling
Consumers can
•install smart-meters
or devices that provide
consumption information
•invest in efficient/long
lasting appliances
Heat pumps, district
heating and cooling Local
governments can
•introduce technologies as
part of strategic planning
•enable secure financing
•engage with the private
sector
•establish a dynamic policy
framework that can be
adapted to local conditions
while reducing investor risk
Switch from informal cooking
fuels to cleaner fuels (NG)
governments can
•implement concrete,
implementable domestic
policies and plans
•set targets and effective
monitoring mechanisms
Development agencies
•can invest in the sector
and channelize significant
private investments
Solar water heaters city
governments can
•mandate this in existing
building codes/urban
guidelines
•incentivise solar water
heaters through subsidies
Companies
•can increase awareness and
transparency regarding
the benefits of solar water
heaters
Distributed
renewable generation
governments/private sector
•set local renewable energy
targets
•can incentivize
infrastructure to enhance
uptake of distributed
energy technologies
•low interest financing to
consumers
•commit to power purchase
agreements
•feed-in tariffs
Shift to low impact
options (more efficient
appliances, etc) Product
developers/designers
•design from a user-centric
perspective by
understanding user needs
more effectively
Manufacturers can
•provide information on
product design strategies
that enhance awareness
about the product
Consumers can
•make responsible purchase
decisions regarding
appliances
Governments can
•set minimum energy
performance standards
and labels
•raise awareness regarding
energy efficiency and
conservation
•incentives to promote
energy saving appliances
Researchers can
•identify opportunities
or synergies between
implementation of clean
energy policies and other
goals such as climate
change mitigation or
development
27
Environ. Res. Lett. 16 (2021) 043003 J Roy et al
ORCID iDs
Joyashree Roy https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9270-
8860
Shreya Some https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7254-
9970
Nandini Das https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6723-
5232
Minal Pathak https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9474-
0485
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