Futures Forum: Climate Week in Sidmouth ... The New Economics Foundation and systems change >>> "Coastal Communities and their Local Economies" >>> Saturday 7th March at 4.30pm
This blog regularly features ideas coming out of the NEF:
Futures Forum: The failure of the UK food system
Futures Forum: Climate change: 'stranded assets' and 'unburnable oil' ...... or the pressures to leave oil and gas in the ground
Futures Forum: Local energy can be very profitable: "Seizing the opportunity of decentralised energy generation can provide new income streams for communities and councils."
Futures Forum: Climate change and energy info from nef
Futures Forum: The growing economic cost of fossil fuels
Futures Forum: "In fact, climate forecasts are actually outperforming many of the key economic forecasts cited by government departments and journalists."
Futures Forum: "Fossil fuels at a tipping point?"
Futures Forum: Energy round-up: a new political consensus on climate change?
Futures Forum: "A shorter working week would make us healthier, give us more fulfilling and sustainable lives and be better for the environment..."
Here is an overview of the NEF:
The New Economics Foundation (NEF) is a British think-tank that promotes social, economic and environmental justice.[1]
NEF was founded in 1986 by the leaders of The Other Economic Summit (TOES) with the aim of working for a "new model of wealth creation, based on equality, diversity and economic stability".[2]
The foundation has 50 staff in London and is active at a range of different levels. Its programmes include work on well-being, its own kinds of measurement and evaluation, sustainable local regeneration, its own forms of finance and business models, sustainable public services, and the economics of climate change.
NEF works in the areas of community development, democracy, and economics. The foundation's work on sustainability indicators, which measures aspects of life and environment, indicated the connection between economic growth and sustainability.[3]
From 1995 to 2000 NEF made social audits of companies to measure and evaluate a company's social and ethical performance according to its standards. This work was instrumental in the formation of the Institute of Social and Ethical Accountability to promote professional standards around social accounting and auditing.[4]
Jubilee 2000 campaign[edit]
Main article: Jubilee 2000
The Jubilee 2000 campaign, strategized for and run by NEF,[5] collected 24 million signatures for its worldwide petition on development and poverty.[6]
Local Money Flows[edit]
NEF has also developed a Local money Flows measurement program and enables the mapping of money flows through the local economy.[7]
Happy Planet Index[edit]
Main article: Happy Planet Index
In July 2006, NEF launched the Happy Planet Index, intended to challenge existing indices of a state's success, such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Human Development Index (HDI).
21-hour working week[edit]
In February 2010 the New Economic Foundation called for gradual transition to a working week of 21 hours.[8]
The organization's current projects include measuring local money flows, developing new kinds of business enterprise, and introducing techniques of sustainable regeneration (Local Alchemy). NEF's BizFizz program, an entrepreneurship development program has created more than 900 new businesses in deprived areas. The organization has now taken this and Local Alchemy to six other countries through its international programme.
At a cultural level, NEF events at the Hay literary festival attract well-known speakers. Its Clone Town campaign in favour of local economic diversity was covered two years running by every major national newspaper and TV news station and it was taken up in the Save Our Small Shops Campaign in the Evening Standard.
New Economics Foundation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaAnd this is from the NEF website:
About NEF: What we do
New Economics Foundation (NEF) is the UK's leading think tank promoting social, economic and environmental justice. Our purpose is to bring about a Great Transition – to transform the economy so that it works for people and the planet.
The UK and most of the world's economies are increasingly unsustainable, unfair and unstable. It is not even making us any happier – many of the richest countries in the world do not have the highest wellbeing.
From climate change to the financial crisis it is clear the current economic system is not fit for purpose. We need a Great Transition to a new economics that can deliver for people and the planet.
NEF's mission is to kick-start the move to a new economy through big ideas and fresh thinking. We do this through
- High quality, ground-breaking research that shows what is wrong with the current economy and how it can be better
- Demonstrating the power of our ideas by putting them into action
- Working with other organisations in the UK and across the world, to build a movement for economic change
NEF is fully independent of any political party. We rely on donations and help from our thousands of supporters to effect social change.
What we do | New Economics Foundation
The Great Transition Project
The Great Transition team combines the work of research teams across nef with the macroeconomic case for a rapid transition to an economy which is socially just and maximises wellbeing within environmental limits. All our work involves building relationships with individuals and groups working to change the current economic model. As well producing materials and making presentations on the vision of an economics of the common good, we have four specific projects: the New Economy Organisers Network, the Global South Hub Network, the Great Transition Model, and Local Economies.
The New Economy Organisers Network (NEON) is a network of individuals across grassroots groups, trade unions, faith groups, NGOs, politics and the media working to replace neoliberalism with an economics of the common good. By connecting individuals and building their economics knowledge and organising capacity, NEON catalyses joined-up campaigns that tackle the economic root causes of social and environmental problems. Our Global South Hub network aims to support in-country partner organisations to catalyse debate and strategic action to promote the shift to a low-carbon, high-wellbeing economy. Pilots schemes have been established with groups in India and South Africa and both are now engaged in the initial phase of mapping of new economy initiatives.
Our local economies work has engaged a range of partners in the UK and internationally including local authorities, housing associations, non-government organisations, community groups and SMEs to pilot practical models which transform local economies. This includes our work on establishing the Haringey Carbon Commission, encouraging communities to reimagine the High Street, increasing money circulation in local economies ‘Plugging the Leaks’, Sustainable Commissioning and encouraging social entrepreneurship ‘BizFizz’.
Our Great Transition Model is meeting the challenge that neither the environment or the banking sector are factored into standard macroeconomic models of the UK. Drawing on the work of expert economic modellers from around the world, we are building a model that encompasses both these factors in order to simulate future scenarios for a UK economy that stays within environmental limits and delivers high-wellbeing.
About nef: Teams | New Economics FoundationOur Great Transition Model is meeting the challenge that neither the environment or the banking sector are factored into standard macroeconomic models of the UK. Drawing on the work of expert economic modellers from around the world, we are building a model that encompasses both these factors in order to simulate future scenarios for a UK economy that stays within environmental limits and delivers high-wellbeing.
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