Table 1.

Observed and estimated impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

SDGs	COVID-19 Observed and Potential Impacts (Examples)	Time Scales of the Impact	References
1: No Poverty	Deep economic and financial crisis could dramatically increase extreme poverty.	Days to decades	[98]
2: Zero Hunger	The crisis has caused a massive slowdown of the efforts to support investment, including through enhanced international cooperation. Impact on the Water, Energy and Food security nexus.	Days to decades	[2]
3: Good Health and Well-being	Greater attention to the elderly and the fragile population for the growth of dedicated assistance services and access to medical and food resources.	Days to decades	[105]
4: Quality Education	Education systems were forced to abruptly change procedures, shifting from physical to online teaching.	Days to decades	[106]
5: Gender Equality	Pre-existing inequalities in the labour market have been deepened.	Days to years	[107,108]
6: Clean Water and Sanitation	The discovery of the permanence of the virus on surfaces and in aquifers requires a revision of the purification and sanitation systems.	Days to years	[109]
7: Affordable and Clean Energy	Alternative energy sources and backup storage and transport systems should be developed to secure societal needs during crises.	Years to decades	[110]
8: Decent Work and Economic Growth	The pandemic has shown that there are groups of workers most exposed to risk to health and life by requiring a revision of the working methods in industry, commerce and health.	Months to decades	[105,111]
9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure	Technological innovation and a close link with the research invention, also to the advantage of a change in production methods, has proved to be an unavoidable condition for the solution of global problems	Months to decades	[112,113]
10: Reduced Inequality	Improvements in access to information technologies to reduce inequalities in poor and large families who have to use remote school systems and access to other resources.	Days to months	[24,114]
11: Sustainable Cities and Communities	Revisions of adaptation plans are foreseen for major cities to increase health resilience in citizens and to better protect elderly population.	Months to decades	[72,115,116]
12: Responsible Consumption and Production	Revision of production systems from the global to the local scale to ensure access and distribution of strategic resources with consequent enhancement of territorial activities.	Months to decades	[117]
13: Climate Action	Transfer of the concepts learned from pandemic evolution to the climate issue.	Months to decades	[118]
14: Life Below Water	No evidence of significant observed or potential impact.	Not the case	[119]
15: Life on Land	Possible financial shortages on protected areas, Increase microplastics in water and soil; Strong support for closing the wildlife trade; Concerns about the influence of habitat loss on epidemic episodes.	Months to decades	[92,93]
16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions	The importance of strong coordination between institutions has been markedly indicated for national ones but, above all, for international ones where the exchange of exact and punctual information can indicate safe ways for solving problems on a global level.	Months to decades	[99,120]
17: Partnerships to achieve the Goal	The efficiency of international agreements have been dramatically challenged, and the need for rethinking regional and global partnerships emerged.	Days to decades	[103]