What’s happening with the Wellbeing Economy Governments?

The Wellbeing Economy Governments (WEGo) group now consists of five key governments: Scotland, Finland, Iceland, Wales and New Zealand. There has been such momentum from the WEGo partnership – other governments are following their lead. Below are a few updates of some of the exciting advancements in this space.

1. Canada included a wellbeing/quality of life framework in their 2021 budget which you can see here. They have just had an election, so watch this space for any more momentum a refreshed government may bring. 
2. Norway has just announced a new wellbeing strategy. They also have a new government- but the strategy predates it. More here
3. ZERO, a Portuguese based member, hosted an event a few months ago with speakers from the OECD, Scotland’s chief economist and Katherine Trebeck putting collective wellbeing into policymaking. You can watch the video here:

4. The European Environment Bureau and Oxfam Germany have recently launched a paper about the Wellbeing Economy agenda..
5. The Club of Rome recently launched a paper about reframing economics toward wellbeing.
6. The European Commission has been debating the agenda
7. There was demand for a wellbeing economy in the UK through petition to Westminster (which received almost 70k signatures!) 
8. The University of Glasgow recently hired Dr. Gerry McCartney as the Professor of Wellbeing Economy. 
9. Katherine Trebeck wrote a great piece for the Scotsman about a new oil field off the coast of Scotland.

If you’re interested in supporting the creation of Wellbeing Economies in your community, check out our Policy Design Guidebook, Case Studies, and progress of our Hubs!