Grassland ecosystem multifunctionality supports the sustainable development goals across the Tibetan Plateau

• Grassland ecosystem multifunctionality supports the sustainability. • Progress towards sustainability is spatially highly variable on the Tibetan Plateau. • The 2030 Agenda goals will not be accomplished across the plateau. • Simulation indicates that sustainability will not be achieved even by 2050. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a global framework for sustainable development. However, in ecologically fragile regions, limited natural resources can significantly constrain progress toward achieving these goals. Using the Tibetan Plateau (TP) as a case study, we assess sustainability outcomes through a suite of integrated socio-economic-environmental indices. To capture the dimension of natural resources, we apply grassland ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF) and investigate its relationship with SDGs performance. Based on data from 2015 and 2019, we evaluate the spatiotemporal dynamics of EMF and SDGs progress and simulate future trajectories to 2050. Our findings reveal a strong positive association between EMF and SDGs outcomes: regions with higher grassland multifunctionality consistently exhibit greater progress toward sustainability targets. Marked east-west disparities are observed across the TP, with both EMF and SDGs indicators performing better in the eastern region. Importantly, our simulations indicate that the goals of Agenda 2030 are unlikely to be met − even with deadline extension to 2050 − without intensified intervention. These results underscore that enhancing ecosystem multifunctionality can serve as a powerful lever for accelerating sustainable development, not only on the Tibetan Plateau but in ecologically vulnerable regions worldwide. Promoting EMF represents a promising strategy for advancing SDGs achievement at both regional and global scales.