By WWF Europe
On 2 and 3 June, the Stockholm +50 conference took place in Sweden, marking 50 years since the first UN conference on the environment, considered to be the birth of environmental multilateralism.
The side-event ‘Wellbeing Economies: A new economic approach for human and planetary health‘ organised by the European Environment Bureau (EEB), Wellbeing Economy Alliance, the Club of Rome and WWF European Policy Office, sought to explore how different countries are prioritising wellbeing in their policies. European Commissioner for the Environment Virginijus Sinkevičius was among the speakers on the panel, highlighting that advancing towards a wellbeing economy has been included in the legally binding EU 8th Environment Action Programme for the first time earlier this year.
Wellbeing Economy was well reflected in the statements made by officials and governments during the conference’s plenary discussions. Two key recommendations for accelerating action towards a healthy planet for the prosperity at the final plenary include i) “placing human well-being at the centre of a healthy planet and prosperity for all”, and ii) “adopting system-wide change in the way our current economic system works to contribute to a healthy planet, through defining and adopting new measures of progress and human wellbeing”. The statement was drawn up by the hosts, Sweden and Kenya, and was based on the discussions from the plenaries and leadership dialogues.
You can watch the recording of the event here.