Exploring the interplay between Planetary Boundaries and Sustainable Development Goals using Large Language Models

By analyzing 40,037 climate articles using Large Language Models (LLMs), we identified interactions between Planetary Boundaries (PBs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). An automated reasoner distinguished true trade-offs (SDG progress harming PBs) and synergies (mutual reinforcement) from double positives and negatives (shared drivers). Results show 21.1% true trade-offs, 28.3% synergies, and 19.5% neutral interactions, with the remainder being double positive or negative. Key findings include conflicts between land-use goals (SDG2/SDG6) and land system boundaries (PB6), together with the underrepresentation of social SDGs in the climate literature. Our study highlights the need for integrated policies that align development goals with planetary limits to reduce systemic conflicts. We propose three steps: (1) integrated socio-ecological metrics, (2) governance ensuring that SDG progress respects Earth system limits, and (3) equity measures protecting marginalized groups from boundary compliance costs.