Nine leaders and activists offer their views on a sustainable future where welfare and climate are intertwined
Anders Folmer Buhelt, Academic Director at Danish Social Innovation Academy
Britt Wendelboe, Project Manager at TrygFonden
Christa Breum Amhøj, Founder of Aktionsuniversitetet
Elise Sydendal, Climate Activist at the Green Youth Movement
Gitte Bylov Larsen, Director of Social and Health Services, Gladsaxe Municipality
Helene Bækmark, Director of the Regional Secretariat in Central Denmark Region
Helene Forsberg, Director of the Women's Council
Johan Dubert, Director of Social Innovation and Founder of Impactly
Malte Moll Wingender, Partner at Analyse & Tal
Mikkel Klausen, Head of Grants, Development & Communication at LB Foreningen
Torben Frölich, Municipal Director, Gentofte Municipality
We are at a crossroads. The welfare society we know and are proud of is under pressure, with critical labor shortages in key welfare areas and a lack of time and resources for the core tasks that are most important to citizens. At the same time, we are facing accelerating ecological crises and a growing awareness of the consequences that our social model has for the climate, the environment, and nature.
Yet it seems as if these two realities do not meet in the political conversation about how our society should develop and how we should act.
We are still discussing whether we can afford to finance both welfare and green transition. Whether we can afford to tax beef if it affects low-income citizens. And how we can work harder to ensure the economic growth that is the foundation of the welfare society.
Over the past year, we—a group of leaders in the Academy for Social Innovation and climate and welfare activists—have spent our time exploring an alternative question: What will the welfare society of the future look like if we assume that the well-being of the planet and its inhabitants are inextricably linked? And what options for action open up if we let our collective energy and the nature we want to thrive be the starting point?
Broadly speaking, we can conclude that our opportunities to act and actually create this utopian-sounding future are far better than the political debate leads us to believe. Because when politicians ask, "who, how, and how much," we ask instead: What is welfare really—and what should it be in the future?
Here, we are greatly aided by new economic understandings that do away with the false dichotomy between green transition and welfare. Trends such as doughnut economics, well-being economics, and degrowth have in common that they set the well-being of both people and the planet as the goal of the economy. In addition, feminist economics criticizes neoliberal economics for overconsumption, inequality, and a lack of appreciation for care work.
Another approach to integrating nature and welfare comes from our growing knowledge and understanding of the positive effects nature has on people's mental and physical health, and how much it means to our quality of life to have access to and be connected with nature. In short: it is welfare that nature exists, thrives, and that we can be part of it.
If we step out into reality, there are already many initiatives around the country that are putting this understanding of welfare into practice. Local communities where green actions create social cohesion and relationships. Citizen-driven meeting places that create frameworks for local business development and communities. New forms of learning and collaboration that connect welfare and nature. New models for decision-making processes in municipalities, where planetary boundaries are taken into account in the decision-making process. To name a few:
- Across the country, award-winning "Green Neighbourhood Communities" are springing up. These are local, self-organised groups where citizens join forces to take green action, e.g. car-sharing schemes, repair cafés or sharing seeds and plants. Initiator Bent Mariager believes that the strength of neighborhood communities lies particularly in the relationships and the clear effect of one's own actions. "As I see it, welfare in the future will be more about communities (than money, ed.). And that will make us happier," he says in our survey.
- In one of Denmark's largest municipalities, Ringkøbing-Skjern, the municipality is collaborating with local and voluntary actors on the "Local Sustainability" initiative, which aims to improve the well-being of the municipality's senior citizens. "It's all about core welfare. And we believe that this is best achieved through community efforts in the local area," says Janne Nielsen, the municipality's head of Health and Care Activities.
- The municipality of Køge has been at the forefront of the Green Tripartite Agreement and established a local nature fund in 2021. The fund cuts across sectors, involving landowners, business organizations, local associations, including the Danish Society for Nature Conservation, and city council politicians. "In the future, municipalities must establish more collaborations where others can contribute... You create a kind of social architecture where companies and associations have the opportunity to get involved," says city council member Jonas Bjørn Whitehorn (S).
- Across the country, nature is increasingly being integrated into the healthcare sector, for example in Bispebjerg Hospital's "Healing Gardens" and Gentofte Municipality's "Therapy Gardens," which help citizens who are on sick leave due to stress, anxiety, and depression. It is worth noting that the therapy gardens were initiated by a citizen who had specialized in nature therapy and approached the municipality on his own initiative.
These examples of strong, local initiative are just a few of the many we have encountered in our research. They inspire us and give us hope for a society where climate, nature, and welfare are considered together. And this is needed in local and national discussions about the development of our welfare society.
Of course, the road to a more sustainable welfare society is not without obstacles. Municipalities are currently in the midst of a storm of reforms, citizens' trust in the welfare system is declining, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract labor to the welfare sector. Not to mention the external pressure resulting from the current geopolitical situation.
Based on our work, we have therefore developed three benchmarks for a new understanding of welfare. A kind of compass that we can use to navigate both in our understanding of and approach to the problems we face.
- Welfare arises between people
Welfare should not be measured in terms of benefits, but in terms of people's ability to live a good life. That is why we must focus on supporting relationships and communities. Proximity and local ties have a special role to play here.
- Well-being depends on not exceeding planetary boundaries.
The well-being of people and the planet are inextricably linked. A social model that undermines the well-being of the planet also undermines the well-being of people. The welfare society must have a planetary budget.
- Well-being is created in ecosystems.
We cannot equate welfare with public sector services. Businesses, associations, and communities in our everyday lives are crucial to our welfare and have the potential to play an even greater role. Not as a substitute for the state, but as an extra dimension.
The benchmarks should not be seen as a simple three-step rocket to a better future, because there is still a lot of work ahead to bring new perspectives and forms of knowledge into the political process. First and foremost, we need to expand our shared vision of what a different and more sustainable welfare society could look like – for example, through green communities and new collaborations in local areas. And create space for experiences that connect us, as human beings, with nature and with the organisations structures that surround us.
But the benchmarks can help to shift the conversation about what kind of society we actually want to pass on to future generations.
