International Industrial Ecology Day 2021

Solar photovoltaic (PV) power generates less greenhouse gases, and air pollutants emissions, consumes less water consumption and create employment, which is crucial for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While, the potential impacts of solar PV on SDGs are significantly varied across different regions, particularly at high resolution scale, e.g. cities, which is less understood. Thus, we aim to figure out the synergies and trade-offs of the impacts of solar PV on different SDGs at city scale. We develop a comprehensive indicator system consisting solar resources, land cover, and SDGs priority, to forecast various solar PV deployment pathways for 366 cities in China. Five scenarios are designed, including single SDGs target scenarios, such as CO2 reduction, air pollutants reduction, water resources saving and employment increment, and the combined one. Finally, the spatial impacts of solar PV on SDGs are evaluated and the synergies and trade-offs among SDGs are identified. We figure out that it is necessary to install solar PV in cities of Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Tibet Provinces, which occupies 17.31-21.07% of the total capacity in five scenarios, and could be explained by their high radiation and suitable land cover. Differently, 16.77% of the capacity can be deployed in eastern coastal areas (Jiangsu, Guangdong, Zhejiang provinces and shanghai) under the CO2 reduction scenario, and cities in Henan, Shandong, Hebei and Shanxi show 20.40% of solar PV installation. Cities in some concentrated destitute areas present higher installed capacity under the employment increment scenario. In terms of the impacts on SDGs, when cities seek for water savings, other SDGs performances are relatively poor. In contrast, the CO2 and air pollutants reduction scenario indicate synergies for four SDGs. For different regions, the synergies of northern cities performs better in achieving four goals than that of southern cities.