Building a wellbeing economy: A deep dive with Sandrine Dixson-Declève 

As part of The Next Economy’s mission to reimagine Australia’s economic future, we are excited to co-host Sandrine Dixson-Declève, co-president of the Club of Rome and Executive Chair of Earth4All, during her visit to the country in late October 2024. 

A global thought leader in sustainability and economic transformation, Sandrine will offer critical insights at a pivotal moment for Australia. With debates around emissions, energy, and housing intensifying, her perspective on building a wellbeing economy that addresses both environmental and societal challenges will be invaluable. 

In this Q&A, Sandrine explores the political, social, and global dimensions of creating a fairer, more sustainable future.

Join Dixson-Declève in Australia for the Survival Guide for Humanity – October dates and ticket information here.  Read more about TNE’s work on economic systems change:  

• Rethinking economic responses: addressing the roots of challenges, August 2024
• What’s a wellbeing economy? Q+A with our Economic Change Lead Dr Katherine Trebeck, May 2024
• The Wellbeing Economy in Brief, Dr Katherine Trebeck and Warwick Smith, Centre for Policy Development, February 2024

What is Earth4All and what are some of the key points from that project?  

Fifty years ago, The Limits to Growth warned of the dangers of pursuing endless growth on a finite planet. Earth4All is a collective of economic thinkers, scientists and advocates from across the world building on the legacy of that report in the light of the interlinked crises we’re seeing today and setting out the changes we need to address them. We’ve used the latest computer modelling techniques to explore two future scenarios for the planet: one in which we carry on with business as usual – we call this Too Little, Too Late – and one where societies embark on a new path to a sustainable world by 2050, the Giant Leap. The results were published in 2022 in Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity.   

What we have found is that the Giant Leap scenario is still achievable, but to get there the world needs nothing less than five extraordinary ‘turnarounds’: ending poverty, addressing inequality, reaching gender equity, transitioning to clean energy and making our food system healthy for people and planet. The case for this is evident when you see the immoral windfall profits made by the fossil fuel companies and industrial agricultural producers on the back of growing energy and food poverty. These issues need to be addressed together and must go hand in hand with an upgrade of our current extractive economic system to one that centres human and planetary wellbeing, not endless growth.  

Earth4All outlines bold steps toward a fairer, more sustainable future. How do you gauge the political and social feasibility of implementing such systemic changes?   

It’s clear that economic growth isn’t serving the majority. Societies are more unequal than ever; wellbeing is low and social tensions are on the rise. People are feeling the impact of the climate crisis.  

This year we undertook a major survey of G20 countries to understand public attitudes to our proposals for changing the economic system. We found that a strong majority of people want change: over two thirds of people think the goal of the economy should be human and planetary wellbeing, not just growth. The same proportion think we should implement a wealth tax on the very rich to fund changes to our societies. And we found that over half of people supported all our policy proposals for improving wellbeing, from investing in green energy and public healthcare, to a universal basic income. So socially, these changes are absolutely feasible, but politicians need to catch up with public opinion.

There are hopeful signs in the achievements of wellbeing governments like Iceland, Scotland, Finland, New Zealand Costa Rica and Wales, but there is much more to be done to get wellbeing economy proposals to the top of the political and policy agenda.  

What do you see as the main obstacles to transitioning to a wellbeing economy, and how can governments and institutions overcome them?  

We’re seeing the rise of misinformation and democratic backsliding. It’s clear that the public wants better wellbeing, a fairer economy, but our recent survey results also show a lack of trust in government to make good decisions, especially in Europe. The current crises are already being exploited by far-right populists proposing false solutions. We need to protect and reinforce strong democracies to ensure policies that truly benefit the majority. Increasing citizen participation, for example through citizen’s assemblies, is one way to rebuild trust.  

We also know that the transformation of our economies and societies will be disruptive. We need to change everything, and fast, and that will cause shocks. But these shocks will be less painful if we prepare for them with resilient systems.

We also have to remember that the cost of inaction on climate change, poverty and inequality are higher that the cost of action now, so governments and policymakers need to ensure that the transition is fair and provides the essentials as soon as possible and before 2030.

That’s why one of Earth4All’s policy proposals is a Universal Basic Dividend, a kind of universal basic income, that will help absorb some of the shocks of this transition period and bring the majority on board with the changes we need.   

How can Australia and other countries ensure the shift toward sustainability and a wellbeing economy addresses global inequalities, especially in the Global South?   

Many of the inequalities we see today globally are the result of an international financial system that is outdated, immoral and unjust. And this system is perpetuated by rich countries who consistently refuse to take bolder action on debt. Wealthy countries must cancel debt to low-income countries and support urgent reform of the global financial architecture so that these countries can take full advantage of their own resources and invest in the policies and infrastructure needed to increase wellbeing.  

Consumption in wealthy countries also needs to be addressed. In the case of Australia, it needs to tackle both its fossil fuel exports and the level of emissions and consumption. Australia has done well at taking up, for example, rooftop solar, and there are many incredible circular economy businesses in the country [The Federal Government’s Measuring What Matters initiative is a welcome step towards bringing a wider range of outcomes to the fore]. But Australia also has some of the biggest houses in the world, the environmental impacts of flying are rarely discussed (and in many locations there aren’t good public transport options), and there is huge scope for making more buildings more energy efficient. 

Ensuring First Nations communities benefit from renewables projects is also critical.

In your view, how can technological innovation support the goals of a wellbeing economy, and what risks should we be wary of in the process?   

AI and other technological innovations have huge potential for advancing the goals of a wellbeing economy – ensuring decarbonisation and optimising energy and water use through smart technologies and innovations, but the digital sector also has to seriously reduce its own emissions. 

Most importantly we must ensure that the use of these technologies is focused on improving people’s lives, not just lining the pockets of the few. Left unchecked, these innovations risk exacerbating existing inequalities.   

We must also be wary of leaning too heavily on technological solutions to global crises. Our focus should be on the root causes of the polycrisis and shifting away from an extractive, GDP-focused economy to one focused on wellbeing, empowerment and addressing inequality, and that is something that technology alone cannot fix.   

What key international trends or movements (good or bad) do you see emerging around sustainability and wellbeing economics, and how can countries like Australia learn from or contribute to these global shifts?   

Conversations about wellbeing economics are no longer on the fringes, we’re seeing them happening in more international institutions and businesses – the World Economic Forum, OECD, the US Business Roundtable have all spoken out about the importance of other priorities besides growth. 

Regarding sustainability we are seeing a two-speed approach: on the one hand you have backlash against ESG in the US but on the other you have more and more companies realising that sustainability across their business models and their value chains is the only way to build resilience to future shocks and stresses. My worry is that as a growing number of companies know decarbonisation is our future, many incumbents, especially the fossil energy companies, are backtracking. 

Then of course there are the examples of countries like Finland, Iceland, Wales, New Zealand, Costa Rica and Scotland that are implementing elements of wellbeing economics into their policies, like tracking complementary growth metrics beyond GDP.  

Building broad movements with both high-level champions and grassroots support is crucial, as well as consistently celebrating positive visions of a wellbeing economy in the country to bring people on board.

Katherine Trebeck [pictured below, The Next Economy], the instigator of the Wellbeing Economy Governments partnership (WEGo) recently published an Earth4All deep-dive paper exploring their experiences and what can be learned from them.

In the Australian context, what unique challenges or opportunities do you see in advancing the wellbeing economy, and what are you most looking forward to exploring during your visit here?  

69% of Australians think that the country’s economy should prioritise the health and wellbeing of people and nature – this is pretty close to what citizens are saying across the G20. There is clearly an appetite for wellbeing economy proposals, and this is fantastic opportunity to centre them. Australia has no shortage of good examples to build on, whether that is pioneering businesses such as circular economy initiatives or employee-owned enterprises, or community banks or the growing community wealth building agenda. There are many creative innovators coming up with technological solutions. Various levels of government are starting to create multidimensional wellbeing frameworks to widen conceptions of success.  

Now is an important time, when many people realise that business as usual cannot carry on but are unsure about what changes need to be made and are even anxious about that change. I look forward to talking with people about the need for change and the benefits it can bring, advancing the conversation in Australia alongside partners already doing fantastic work in the space like The Next Economy, and together building momentum towards a wellbeing economy.  What we need now is to show Australians and citizens across the globe is that there is a plausible alternative future, one which reverses negative environmental and social tipping points, and Earth4All’s Giant Leap scenario shows the way. 

Join Dixson-Declève in Australia for the Survival Guide for Humanity – dates and ticket information here.