Invitation

The Well-being Economy1 – a pragmatic, implementable approach EPC Well-being Economy Policy Lab Background In recent years, the EU has faced a series of significant and socially disruptive internal and external crises, exposing a lack of resilience across health, economic, social and political systems. Multiple societal challenges persist as governments recover from the COVID-19 global health pandemic, tackle high inflation, and accelerate the twin green and digital transitions. In this era of ‘permacrisis’, strengthening human and societal resilience and well-being is vital to protect citizens against economic, social and political threats. Building such resilience and sustainability into the European economy means designing ‘preventative’ EU policies, actions and frameworks that address the root causes of the multiple challenges we face. Critically, it requires recognising that the current economic model predicated on maximising growth above other priorities is contributing to crises events and that the redistributive elements of that model (Social Europe) can no longer be relied upon to maintain societal well-being and stability. Additionally, it requires recognising that traditional economic policy is failing to deal with a world of transformations (technology, sustainability, security), permacrisis and ‘Zeitenwende’.2 Persisting with an approach that regards maximising GDP growth as the key aim of economic and social policies is gradually hollowing out societal resilience across a range of facets – climate, poverty, inequalities (income, public health, education, housing), well-being, and social cohesion. Inevitably, this will lead to further political challenges to European democracy. A well-being economy policy approach There is growing interest among experts, policy-makers and key stakeholders in a new economic approach centred on well-being: a well-being economy approach. The aim is to “transform economies around the world to deliver shared well-being for people and the planet by 2040”.3 That means moving beyond GDP indicators as the best measure of societal progress, and instead reframing economic policy to “deliver quality of life and flourishing for all people in harmony with the environment”.4 The well-being economy policy agenda is fundamental to addressing people’s needs and fears. With its preventative approach, long-term horizon and intergenerational perspective, implementing this agenda will help to shift short-termism in policy- making. 1 The EPC has been engaged in work on the well-being economy through the Social Europe and Well- being Programme’s activities with the Coalition for Health, Ethics and Society (CHES) and its previous Well-being 2030 project. See also “Conference on the Future of Europe: Time for a new European economic model”, “Solidarity, sustainability and well-being at the heart of the EU mission”. 2 See “Europe in the age of permacrisis” and “A watershed moment in European history: Decision time for the EU” 3 This is outlined in the vision of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll), a global collaboration of organisations, alliances, movements and individuals advancing the case for building well-being economies; https://weall.org/about 4 https://weall.org/about 1 Moving forward with this approach involves a recalibration of EU priorities and goals and how the economy is managed, reconciling outcomes in the economic and social sphere with people and the environment by embedding well-being and resilience objectives at the heart of economic and social policy. As a result, a well-being economy will be a more resilient one in which policy levers are developed, utilised and directed at maximising societal resilience and well-being at local, national and international levels. In doing so, it fundamentally shifts the emphasis of policy away from GDP growth as an overriding metric of societal welfare. The Well-being Economy Governments partnership Over the past few years, a number of national- and regional-level governments have acknowledged the inconsistencies inherent in our current economic model and have begun the journey towards implementing a sustainable well-being economy model. An alliance of countries involving Iceland, New Zealand, Scotland, Wales and Finland have formed the Well-being Economy Governments (WEGo) partnership.5 They are embracing holistic well-being economic models and developing and implementing well-being policies and indicators that capture broader well-being and attach greater value to social and environmental outcomes. In applying new well-being economic thinking, these governments are pointing to an alternative development pathway to GDP growth and showing that such a paradigm shift is possible. Some examples of the well-being legislation and frameworks developed by the WEGo individually are listed in the box below: • Scotland6: Delivering well-being is embedded at the heart of the National Performance Framework, aligned with the UN SDGs. The transition to a well- being economy is at the centre of the National Strategy for Economic Transformation. A Well-being Economy Monitor brings together a range of indicators to provide a baseline for assessing progress towards the development of a well-being economy. • Iceland7: Well-being indicators guide government decision-making. • New Zealand8: Its Well-being Budget requires the government to develop initiatives targeting intergenerational well-being outcomes and present expected well-being impacts. Well-being indicators are embedded into the Living Standards Framework & a national Well-being Report is published. • Wales9: Its well-being approach is enshrined in legislation through the Well- being of Future Generations Act. • Finland10 : An Economy of Well-being approach is being implemented in order to guide government decision-making. EU/International level There are many initiatives at the European and international level that recognise the need to move beyond GDP towards a well-being economy, such as by the 5 https://www.gov.scot/groups/wellbeing-economy-governments-wego/; https://weall.org/wego 6 https://nationalperformance.gov.scot; https://www.gov.scot/publications/wellbeing-economy- monitor-december-2022-update/ 7 https://www.government.is/lisalib/getfile.aspx?itemid=fc981010-da09-11e9-944d-005056bc4d74 8 https://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/wellbeing-budget/wellbeing-budget-2022-secure-future; https://www.treasury.govt.nz/information-and-services/nz-economy/higher-living-standards/our- living-standards-framework 9 https://www.gov.wales/well-being-of-future-generations-wales 10 https://stm.fi/en/economy-of-wellbeing 2 OECD11, the UN and the WHO.12 More recently, within the EU, the transition to a well-being economy was embedded in the 8th Environment Action Programme and enshrined in both the 2030 and 2050 priority objectives.13 However, despite this ambition, transforming the EU economic and social model at a time of great urgency is clearly problematic. The challenge is how to properly manage the process of building towards a sustainable, socially-just and resilient future whilst simultaneously managing the failures and crises of the current system. The scale of the transformation demands building a broad political and societal consensus with more political will, bolder leadership and greater public buy-in so that people feel they have a stake in this transformation and will benefit from it. There is the need for a more politically-informed intervention to show citizens the opportunities and long-term benefits of implementing a well-being economy policy approach and to understand the costs, trade-offs and choices that have to be made. Aims and objectives of the Well-being Economy Policy Lab To support this transformation, the EPC has established a Well-being Economy Policy Lab for high-level policy- and decision-makers at the EU and international level. A key challenge (which the Policy Lab will address) is how to translate the well-being economy approach into a concrete policy agenda that can be used by policy-makers to implement it into EU and member state practices. Much of the debate is presently focused on the need for new metrics to measure progress beyond GDP with the development of an array of dashboards and scoreboards. While indicators are important, they will not change policy on their own so there is a need to understand how to make well-being metrics matter by integrating them into policy and ensuring policy coherence and alignment. The Policy Lab will: • Stimulate political debate around the well-being economy policy agenda, by creating a ‘safe space’ for governments to come together to co-create policy solutions and discuss their practical implementation, develop and test ideas on innovative well-being policies, practices and structures, develop common understandings, principles and shared actions, identify key political issues and challenges, and analyse progress; • Draw on well-being policy expertise, bringing in examples of best practice from different levels of governance, (i.e. cities, local, sub-state, national and international, including WEGo) in order to co-create ambitious but politically feasible and relevant policy recommendations for policy-makers; • Develop a cross-cutting programme of work across the EU’s well-being economy policy agenda to analyse how the EU can develop and implement policies leading to a well-being economy aligned with the UN SDGs; • Provide a platform for mutual learning, mutual support and encouragement in terms of policy collaboration and policy innovation for well-being and ensure continuous improvement in policy-making; • Build political support, develop a high-level political network and assess how political and societal consensus for this approach can be secured. 11 https://www.oecd.org/wise/; https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org 12 https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/08-07-2022-who-launches-a-new-initiative-to-place-well- being-at-the-heart-of-economic-recovery 13 https://environment.ec.europa.eu/strategy/environment-action-programme-2030_en 3 Participants High-level political representatives from the following initial countries: Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Scotland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Wales. High-level representatives from the EU institutions, Permanent Representations, and other key stakeholders and experts (including the OECD, the European Environment Agency, the Wellbeing Economy Alliance). Expected outcomes from the round table meetings The EPC aims to launch the ‘Well-being Economy Policy Lab’ at a public event in Brussels in summer 2023. To support the public launch of the Policy Lab, the EPC is organising two high-level online closed-door round table discussions. Round table (1) Tuesday 28th February 2023, 09:00 – 10:00 CET: The well- being economy debate and the current geoeconomic/geopolitical landscape – State of Play This will: • allow for an assessment of the overall state of play around the well-being economy debate in Europe in light of the current geoeconomic and geopolitical landscape; • identify the key political issues, barriers and challenges to implementing a well-being economy policy approach; • understand what the level of political ambition is for the move to a well- being economy and how the current context is influencing the political debate on the EU’s future growth model. Round table (2) Tuesday 25th April 2023, 09:00 – 10:00 CET: Shaping the agenda for EU public policy on a well-being economy approach This will: • understand the policy choices and trade-offs the EU and member state governments will have to make, as well as the policy scenarios, key policy shifts, policy tools and instruments required to support the practical implementation of a well-being economy policy approach; • identify what an EU well-being economy policy agenda might look like for future policy analysis work, to support its implementation into policy- making practices. Finally, the Lab will co-create a series of politically feasible and relevant policy recommendations and proposals that will form the basis of an EU well-being economy policy agenda with a view to influencing the Spanish EU Council Presidency in the second half of 2023 and shaping the future EU policy agenda for the incoming European Parliament and Commission following the European elections in spring 2024. The outcomes of the two round table meetings (in the form of policy proposals and recommendations) will be discussed further at the public launch of the EPC’s Well-being Economy Policy Lab in summer 2023. These will be used to shape and inform the policy analysis work of the Policy Lab going forward. 4 2nd February 2023 Dear Minister Sikkut, The EPC has established a ‘Well-being Economy Policy Lab’, bringing together high- level policy- and decision-makers in Europe to explore in detail how to translate the well- being economy policy approach into a concrete policy agenda that can be used to implement it into EU and member state practices. The Policy Lab will be launched at a public event later this summer. In preparation for the public launch event, I am delighted to invite you to participate in our online high-level round table meetings focusing on the well-being economy as a pragmatic and implementable policy approach. The meetings will be closed-door, held under Chatham House rule and are supported by the Open Society Foundations. With input from senior figures in the Well-being Economy Governments partnership (Iceland, New Zealand, Scotland, Wales and Finland), who are embracing holistic well- being economic models, the high-level round tables are an opportunity to explore what the key political issues, barriers and challenges to implementing a well-being economy approach in practice are. They are also an opportunity to shape the agenda for EU public policy on a well-being economy through the co-creation of a series of relevant policy recommendations and proposals, which will be discussed further with a wider audience at the public launch event. The first meeting will take place on Tuesday 28th February 9am - 10am CET and will discuss the state of play around the well-being economy debate in Europe in light of the current geoeconomic and geopolitical landscape. A second round table will take place on Tuesday 25th April 9am – 10am CET and will focus on what an EU well-being economy policy agenda might look like. Your contribution to these discussions will be important to their success, particularly in allowing us to understand where this debate now sits, what the key political barriers to implementation are, and the lessons we can learn from best practice that collectively will help to shape a potential EU well-being economy policy agenda going forward. Further background details on the EPC’s Well-being Economy Policy Lab and the round table discussions are enclosed in the Annex. An additional framing paper will be provided with key questions to be addressed ahead of each meeting. I very much hope you will be able to accept my invitation but if you require any further information, please contact Laura Rayner ([email protected] or on +32 472 556 785). I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience. Yours Sincerely, Fabian Zuleeg Chief Executive, European Policy Centre Rue du Trône / Troonstraat 14-16, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium Tel : +32 (0) 2 231 0340 – Fax : +32 (0) 2 231 0704 –- e-mail: [email protected] –- twitter : @epc_eu – www.epc.eu EU Transparency Register N°: 89632641000-47