Linking the UN SDGs and environmental assessment: Towards a conceptual framework

Linking UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Environmental Assessment (EA)—for mutual benefit—is an emerging topic within research and practice. Thus, knowledge and models of how to make the link are rather undiscovered and novel. This article aims to contribute to the understanding of linkages between the SDGs and EA in theory and practice. The output of the article is a framework for determining the level of integration of the SDGs and EA. In the framework, three main forms of integration are distinguished: non-integration, partial integration, and radical integration, and covering six levels of integration. A research agenda is proposed to strengthen the framework and to explore potentials and implications of the integration of the two concepts.