Connecting the dots: IoT, sustainability, and SDGs

Internet of Things (IoT) technologies can transform various sectors by converging with global sustainability goals. This paper systematically reviews how IoT supports fulfilling the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study initially identified publications that are most relevant to IoT and sustainability. Each publication was carefully examined and mapped to its corresponding SDG, methodology, context, and country. This work presents an opportunity to learn about country contributions, collaborations, and IoT and SDG research trends over the past decade. India, China, and the US were among the top contributors to the IoT and SDG literature, with India accounting for 68 of the 153 publications reviewed (around 45 %). Most of these publications were reviews, followed by questionnaire surveys and data analyses, accounting for around 40 %. Results of a trend analysis show an upward trend in the use of IoT systems within sustainability domains. In 2023 alone, 27 % of publications covered various sustainability topics using one IoT system or another. This paper also analyzes the contributions of countries relative to their population sizes to identify those countries that pulled much above their weight, such as Denmark, UAE, Switzerland, and Australia. This paper also allows readers to learn about the various domains or contexts explored in the literature, including smart cities, agriculture, supply chain, and energy savings, and those SDGs that received the most and least research attention. SDG11, SDG9, and SDG7 were examined in >50 % of the retrieved publications, while SDG10, SDG15, and SDG16 received the least attention. These findings were complemented by developing a Microsoft Power BI dashboard that allows readers to drill down and explore each visualization by context, methodology, publication year, country, and SDG.