Time ToBe Transformative: Strengthening sustainable wellbeing and economic alternatives

This policy brief gives research-based insights for on-going discussion about how to transform the economy, design desirable policy options and measure development towards sustainability paradigm. European Union, United Nations and other global organisations all work towards common goal of protecting a good life for all within planetary boundaries. At the 2023 World Summit on the Mid-Term Review of the Sustainable Development Goals, the key message was that the SDGs are not on track (United Nations 2023). Instead, the trend is reversing with the intertwining global crises. Our shared planet is not on a sustainable path to the future. At the Summit, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on governments, businesses, youth, activists and NGOs to put global goals on track. He said it is not a time for small changes but for a societal breakthrough in sustainability transformation.
This call is targeted also to Europe. Even though Green Growth as well as mitigation and adaptation to climate change has been the major policy goal for EU and its member states during the ongoing election period, the implementation of sustainability transformation has proved difficult. The economic mindset prioritising growth is institutionalised in all levels of decision making and societal activities. This makes it difficult to create new imaginaries about economies and especially to put into practice alternative visions, although many agree that multidimensional, sustainable wellbeing must be the basis and goal of the economy.
In ToBe – research project a multidisciplinary group of scholars is addressing this puzzle. With this first policy brief, we present our first results about how to drive sustainability transformation. We provide an understanding of how social thinking can be explored, interpreted, and modernised through innovative and transformative frameworks, objectives and policies for sustainable wellbeing, ranging from green growth to post-development thinking.