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ToBe- Towards Sustainable Wellbeing: Integrated policies and transformative indicators

Article written by María Midón - Project Officer

Multiple crises in recent times have fundamentally changed the current global situation, namely the COVID-19 pandemic, the aggression in Ukraine and the Climate crisis that needs urgent addressing.

The European Green Deal goals indicate that European policymakers are aware of the increasing limitations of mainstream economic thinking for delivering effective change. However, there is a lack of alternatives to the classic neo-classical concept of growth-based economics.

Lead by Tampere University, Horizon Europe’s project ToBe was launched in March 2023 with the goal of finding an alternative socio-economic model that would put Sustainable Wellbeing at its core, based on concepts of green growth and post-growth. With a 3-year lifespan, ToBe’s consortium consists of a team of reputable multi-disciplinary researchers that will combine quantitative and qualitative analysis, as well as the development case studies both in Europe and in the Global South to deliver a novel macro-economic model more in compass with the EU Green Deal and its Sustainable Development Goals.

During the last 6 months, ToBe researchers have been working in the conceptualisation of a theoretical framework (WP1) that will facilitate the quantitative development of alternative economic indicators beyond GDP (WP2), the analysis of case studies in multiple EU countries and in the Global South (WP4) and finally the creation of a new and alternative socio-economic model based on Sustainable Wellbeing. The project emphasises the importance of co-creation of results, thus all WP’s efforts will be shared and discussed at workshops and policy labs with relevant stakeholders in 2024 and 2025 (WP5).

This project comes at an extremely relevant time, given the unprecedented Beyond Growth Conference hosted at the European Parliament in May 2023, or the upcoming European elections, consisting of a context that could trigger significant change in the way we think of the current socio-economic system, climate justice or the green transition.

If you want to learn more about ToBe, visit the project’s website or contact EURADA colleagues María Midón and Nora Scantamburlo. Follow us on Twitter/X and LinkedIn and subscribe to our newsletter to keep up with our activities.