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5. NEXT STEP –
RECOMMEN­DATIONS

This section provides recommendations (from presentations, speakers and audience) for the Nordic countries and the Nordic Council of Ministers on continuing this discussion.

Envisioning the Future

  • Stimulate a debate in politics and broader society about sufficiency, what the concept entails, and what can be considered sufficiency in a Nordic context.
  • Create visions of future pathways towards sustainability that allow people to imagine their life under different scenarios that support a sustainable transition in our society.
  • Develop positive win-win language to use when promoting greener lifestyles.
 

Reconsidering the existing economic model

  • Stimulate debate in politics and broader society about the relevance of and means for stepping outside the pro-growth versus de-growth frame.
  • Encourage debates and discussions on the shortcomings of GDP in education, particularly in economics and business management studies in higher education.
  • Stimulate debate on which mechanisms lie behind the growth imperative and how these mechanisms might be tackled without causing societal instability.
  • Investigate the potential benefits of different schemes, such as reducing working hours to reduce unemployment risks from low growth and simultaneously reduce levels of material consumption.
 

Addressing multilateral and cross-sector challenges sufficiently

  • Analyse the underlying mechanisms that previously have led to successfully handling great crises. There are numerous previous examples of how society and policymakers have addressed imminent threats rapidly at a sufficient scale, e.g., COVID-19 and the depletion of the ozone layer. How can we transfer some of the knowledge and experience to our current crises?
  • Commence a study that develops measurement systems that enable monitoring of environmental pressures abroad caused by national consumption and map current best practices.
  • Identify the goods and services with the most significant pressures globally. The policy should focus on these, even if these pressures don’t occur domestically, and start a dialogue on how to address this best.