Towards a Low Carbon, High Well-being Future

Creating Resilient Rural Communities – Constrained Choices with Infinite Possibilities

Ceiliuradh 28thth October 2009

Chris Pienaarnef (the new economics foundation)

Living better, using less

What do we want?

Economic growth – mixed blessings

Measuring what matters

Towards a low carbon, high well-being future

What future do we want?

Economics as if people and the planet mattered:•Well-being

•Social Justice

•Inter-generational justice*

*Brundtland formulation (UN):

“meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”

Understanding well-being

Individual’s subjective experience of their life A ‘dynamic process, emerging … through the

interaction between their circumstances, activities, and psychological resources. Aside from feeling ‘good’, it also incorporates a sense of individual vitality, opportunities to undertake meaningful, engaging activities which confer feelings of competence and autonomy [and] is also about feelings of relatedness to other people’

Psychologicalresources

Functioning welland satisfaction

of needs

Experience of life

e.g. to be autonomous,

competent, and connected to others

e.g. resilience, optimism, self-

esteem,personality

e.g. material conditions,

opportunities, social norms

e.g. happiness, satisfaction, interest, boredom and distress

Enablingconditions

Foresight Mental Capital and Well-Being Project

Understanding well-being

Living better, using less

What do we want?

Economic growth – mixed blessings

Measuring what matters

Towards a low carbon, high well-being future

Impacts of growth on…

Environment Inequality Well-being

Earth in 1959

Earth in 2009

Growth and environment

Economy Environment

Environment

Society

Economy

Neoclassical model of economyEcological economics model

“Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman… or an economist”

Kenneth Boulding

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

Glo

bal h

ecta

res (m

illio

ns)

Global biocapacity

Global footprint

Gone too far

< 1 planet living

> 1 planet living

Impacts of growth on…

Environment Inequality Well-being

Growing incomes?

50

100

150

200

250

300

1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

GDP

median income

weekly income bottom 5%

Growth isn’t working

Worldwide, during the 1990s, for every $100 added to the value of the global economy, only 60 cents found its way to those living below the absolute poverty line of $1 a day.

Growth isn’t Working, 2006

Impacts of growth on…

Environment Inequality Well-being

Scarce gains…

Real GDP per capita and subjective Life Satisfaction in the UK

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

140%

160%

180%

200%

1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001

GDP

Life Satisfaction

Scarce gains…

Among richer countries, little correlation between GDP and well-being. Threshold Hypothesis

Recent studies by the Chief Economist at the Inter-American Development Bank show that economic growth correlates negatively with well-being

Living better, using less

What do we want?

Economic growth – mixed blessings

Measuring what matters

Towards a low carbon, high well-being future

National Accounts of Well-Being

Based on data from European Social Survey, 2006

c. 40,000 respondents in 22 countries

Over 50 questions on well-being

National Accounts of well-being: a structure

Personal well-being

Social well-being

Living better, using less

What do we want?

Economic growth – mixed blessings

Measuring what matters

Towards a low carbon, high well-being future

the fair and equitable distribution of social, environmental and

economic resources between people, countries and generations

Good lives do not have to cost the earth some challenges

Reduce over-consumption

Understand the regions fair share of resources and interdependence between localities

Understand what supports a good life

Actively decide – explicit, consistent policies / behaviour

Civic society, third, public and private sectors working towards a common & just purpose

Framework of outcomes across local, sub-regional, regional and national – social, economic, environmental outcomes

Sustainable Outcomes Framework

1.

Activity

2.

Output

3.

Service level outcomes

-social

-economic

-environmental

- Low carbon

- Well-being

- Social justice

4.

Local Authority Community outcomes

-social

-economic

-environmental

- Low carbon

- Well-being

- Social justice

5.

Regional level outcomes

-social

-economic

-environmental

- Low carbon

- Well-being

- Social justice

Sustainable Community strategy, Local Area Agreement

Commissioner & service user priorities

National Outcome frameworks

Not pre-determined tosupport innovation

Living better, using less, sharing more

Action to support resilience characteristics – supporting action in communities, and at appropriate scale

Ability of a system to absorb shocks

Self-organise : strong social organisations, activism, mutual models, democratic voice

Innovate: understanding of common purpose (economic & environmental literacy), open opportunity to delivery in different ways

Learn: feedback loops, supported to experiment, co-produce

A resilient community?

Resilience can broadly be defined as the ability of a system (social, economic or ecological) to cope with external shocks as they arise. In measuring a system’s resilience, the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research refers to indicators that demonstrate the system’s ‘ability to (a) absorb shocks and retain its basic function, (b) self organize (social institutions and networks), and (c) innovate and learn in face of disturbances

A different approach

Invitation to the Local Economy Workshop – How Communities Can Help Each Other to Build Economic Sustainability

Plugging the Leaks Programme; Enterprising Communities Framework Making Spaces Delivery Model

Economic and Environmental Literacy Tools Coaching Approach Networks

You: monthly actions you can take www.onehundredmonths.org/

. http://www.350.org/

Your community: Become involved in the transition town movement, www.transitiontowns.org/

Use the Sustainable Communities Act www.lga.gov.uk

Use the tools and approaches at www.pluggingtheleaks.org

Your business: Balanced scorecard – looking at your triple bottom line outcomes, deciding what you want to do about them.

www.pluggingtheleaks.org

Your Organisation: actively seeking to create positive local economic, social and environmental outcomes from your mainstream spending and core business.

Good Corporate Citizenship http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/

Sustainable procurement www.procurementcupboard.org

Good lives don’t have to cost the earth