Is Sharing a Better Alternative for the Planet? The Contribution of Sharing Economy to Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

The sharing economy has been presented as a potential contributor to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) due to the change it brings to consumption patterns. Although this potential has been identified in different papers, there is not, as far as we know, a single article that explains in detail all the possible platforms through which the sharing economy can contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. This paper addresses this topic by reviewing the existing literature involving the sharing economy and the SDGs, and by analyzing the main characteristics attributed to this business model, and how each one of them may in theory contribute to the SDGs. Our paper advances the field by establishing hitherto undiscovered relationships between the two concepts, while laying the foundations for corroborating our theoretical findings in future analytical studies.