In september WWF published a report Towards an EU Wellbeing Economy - a fairer, more sustainable Europe post Covid-19, for EU to adapt to a wellbeing economy approach that serves people and the environment rather than “business as usual”. The report is a response to EU and it’s member stats focusing on conventional economic growth as the best method to stimulate society and move us out from the current crisis. The report claims that current policies might risk investments needed for a green transition and might end up in fossil fuel energy or intensive agriculture. The reports says that instead we should measure what we treasure.
In the report you can read about how GDP growth per country has played out in relation to other measures such as Gini Index, Happy Planet Index, Human Development Index and Ecological Footprint, which shows that high GDP does not correlate with high happiness index and so on. The report is therefore questioning “green growth” and mean that decoupling is inefficient.
The report is mentioning a few examples who has chosen other measures, indices or index in their budget. New Zealand, Finland and Iceland being among them. And are calling for EU to develop indicators for a Wellbeing Economy.
Read more about the insights, the reasons and the specific calls for EU to implement here!