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Pathways to Sustainable Wellbeing: A Bayesian Approach to Decent Living Within Planetary Boundaries

Project description

Modelling well-being within planetary boundaries

As environmental crises intensify, research highlights critical ecological limits necessary to sustain life on Earth. High-income countries are primarily responsible for exceeding these planetary boundaries, yet conventional economic models continue to push for perpetual growth. This approach undermines key goals like reducing resource consumption and achieving rapid decarbonisation. Ecological economics advocates for post-growth strategies that focus on reducing unnecessary production and consumption. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the PostGroWellBeing project models the relationship between resource use and human well-being, exploring conditions for decent living within planetary boundaries. Using Bayesian probabilistic methods, the project evaluates the likelihood of achieving well-being under various policy scenarios, supporting post-growth economic pathways that align environmental and social goals globally.

Objective

As the world faces escalating environmental crises driven by human economic activity, research on planetary boundaries highlights critical ecological limits necessary to sustain human life. High-income countries primarily drive the overshoot of these boundaries, yet conventional economic models continue to promote perpetual growth, hindering key ecological goals like reducing resource use and achieving rapid decarbonization. Ecological economics suggests shifting from growth-centric approaches to post-growth strategies that prioritize reducing unnecessary production and consumption. While concerns exist about potential social consequences to post-growth pathways, evidence in post-growth literature indicates that both social and ecological objectives can be met simultaneously.

This project aims to advance this research by modeling the relationship between resource use and human wellbeing, identify optimal conditions for decent living within planetary boundaries across diverse contexts, quantify the probability of achieving wellbeing under different policy scenarios, and influence policy debates around degrowth. The model will utilize Bayesian probabilistic methods due to their ability to integrate both qualitative and quantitative data, to capture complex interdependencies among the social and biophysical indicators of wellbeing, make causal inferences, and ultimately provide insights for decisionmakers. Meeting the project objectives will involve developing a comprehensive Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) model as a framework to quantify the likelihood of achieving decent living standards under various scenarios while accounting for uncertainties and diverse regional contexts. This research will take an interdisciplinary approach to gain new insights that will inform policy decisions that prioritize human wellbeing, supporting post-growth economies that align environmental and social objectives globally.

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Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

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Call for proposal

(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITAT AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA
Net EU contribution
€ 194 074,56
Address
EDIF A CAMPUS DE LA UAB BELLATERRA CERDANYOLA V
08193 Cerdanyola Del Valles
Spain
Region
Este Cataluña Barcelona
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
No data