Viewing archives for Prof. Paul Behrens

Is Europe a laggard? Comparing the EU and the US using an interdisciplinary well-being framework

Annegeke Jansen, Ranran Wang, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Paul Behrens and Rutger Hoekstra

Abstract

Well-being is increasingly recognized as a more meaningful measure of societal progress than economic output, yet most international comparisons continue to emphasize economic indicators. This focus has reinforced the perception that Europe is lagging behind the United States, with the productivity gap shaping the European Commission’s recent competitiveness agenda. Here, we compare European and American development from 1990–2023 using an interdisciplinary well-being framework that integrates five scientific schools of thought. We find that while the US increasingly outperformed the EU on productivity and income, the EU caught up in terms of various well-being indicators, including life satisfaction and education, while increasingly outperforming the US in life expectancy and safety. Europe also exhibits more equitable well-being outcomes and achieves them at lower environmental cost. However, in both regions, the conditions underpinning future well-being are under increasing pressure. These results challenge the dominance of economic metrics in evaluating progress and emphasize the need for inclusive development strategies that place sustainable well-being at their core.

Implications of climate change on wellbeing

Prof Paul Behrens (Oxford), Reapra Senior Research Fellow at the Wellbeing Research Centre, shared findings on the implications of climate change on wellbeing at the latest of the Wellbeing Research Centre’s Seminar Series.

His research includes an overview of major integrated environment–society–economy (ESE) models, and how they all fail to account for human wellbeing.

Watch the full presentation on the Centre’s YouTube channel.

Climate action saves lives. So why do climate models ignore wellbeing?

The Conversation

Climate change is already shaping our wellbeing. It affects mental health, spreads infectious diseases, disrupts work, damages food supplies and forces families to leave their homes because of conflict, hunger or flooding.

Wellbeing refers to everything that enables people to live healthy, safe and meaningful lives. It includes physical and mental health, access to food, clean water, hygiene and income, as well as work, leisure, culture and education.

It also involves personal safety, freedoms, trust in institutions and how people feel about their own lives. Environmental quality, biodiversity and the degree of inequality in society are part of wellbeing too. Climate change touches every one of these areas.

Inclusion of wellbeing impacts of climate change: a review of literature and integrated environment–society–economy models

Inge Schrijver, Paul Behrens, Rutger Hoekstra and René Kleijn

Abstract

Climate change has broad and deep impacts on people’s wellbeing; yet, these dynamics are largely excluded from integrated environment–society–economy (ESE) models. In this Review, we provide an overview of climate change–wellbeing impact pathways and explore which of these pathways have been quantified or modelled, or both. We assessed literature reviews and meta-analyses to describe how climate change affects specific wellbeing outcomes and which of these relationships are robust and amenable to parametrisation. We also conducted a review of 18 models that include one or more wellbeing impacts of climate change. Generally, more quantified pathways are available in the literature than those currently incorporated in ESE models. Temperature-related mortality, food security, and GDP are well represented in quantitative literature and to some extent in ESE models, whereas the impacts of climate change on infectious diseases; respiratory, cardiovascular, and neurological outcomes; mental health; adverse birth outcomes; occupational health and labour productivity; conflict; migration; poverty; air quality; and biodiversity loss have been quantified in the literature but are largely absent in ESE models. These relationships present promising steps towards a next generation of ESE models that could include more sophisticated interactions between environmental impacts and wellbeing.

The implications of climate change impacts on wellbeing

Wellbeing Research Centre welcomes leading sustainable wellbeing scholars

In partnership with Reapra, the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford has welcomed a pair of world-class researchers to spearhead its emerging research stream in sustainable wellbeing.

Paul Behrens (Reapra Senior Research Fellow) and Annegeke Jansen (Reapra Research Associate) join the Centre’s team of interdisciplinary researchers to examine long-term questions around human wellbeing and environmental sustainability.

Their appointments are supported by Asia-based venture builder and investment group Reapra, whose mission is to co-create industries for the betterment of society through research and practice.

Paul Behrens is the British Academy Global Professor at the Oxford Martin School, whose research focuses on the environmental and social impacts of large-scale food system transformation. He is also the author of the popular science book, The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: Futures from the Frontiers of Climate Science (Indigo Press, 2021) and winner of the inaugural Frontiers Planet Prize.

Annegeke Jansen is currently a PhD candidate at Leiden University, focusing on the measurement of sustainable and inclusive wellbeing as part of the WISE Horizons project. In addition, she investigates determinants and historical developments related to wellbeing.

The pair have previously collaborated on major contributions to the Beyond GDP movement, published in The Lancet Planetary Health and Nature Scientific Data.

“It is critical to turn our attention to the notion of sustainable wellbeing.”

Paul Behrens, Reapra Senior Research Fellow, said: “I’m delighted to be collaborating at the critical intersection of human wellbeing and environmental sustainability. It is essential that we work towards improving wellbeing while both reducing our environmental impacts and dealing with environmental damage. Interdisciplinary collaboration with the Centre’s diverse, world-leading team is incredibly exciting.”

Annegeke Jansen, Reapra Research Associate, said: “I’m excited to join the Wellbeing Research Centre to explore the deep connections between human wellbeing and environmental sustainability. In a world facing ecological breakdown and growing inequalities, it’s crucial to rethink what truly supports flourishing lives—now and in the future. I look forward to working with the Centre’s interdisciplinary team and learning from their renowned expertise in wellbeing research.”

Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Professor of Economics and Behavioural Science at Saïd Business School, Oxford, and Director of the Wellbeing Research Centre, said: “With the appointment of Paul and Annegeke we gain the expertise of two leading scholars who are building bridges between the academic fields focussed on sustainability and subjective wellbeing. If our aim is to advance the wellbeing of current and future generations then it is critical to turn our attention to the notion of sustainable wellbeing.

“We are tremendously grateful to our like-minded colleagues at Reapra who have made these fellowships possible and we look forward to our partnership generating tangible insights that will hopefully underpin policy action in due course.”

Laura Lynn Lee, Growth & Wellbeing Catalyst at Reapra, said: “This is indeed an exciting time for Reapra as we welcome Paul and Annegeke to our research and practice community. We look forward to learning together with them and Jan’s team at the Wellbeing Research Centre as we co-create Reapra’s vision of long-term wellbeing for the next generation.”

Prof. Paul Behrens

Paul Behrens is British Academy Global Professor at the University of Oxford. His research and writing on climate, energy, and food, has appeared in scientific journals and media outlets such as the BBC , The Guardian, Thomson Reuters, Politico, Nature Sustainability, Nature Energy, PNAS, Joule, Nature Food, and Nature Communications. He is an editor and author of the interdisciplinary textbook Food and Sustainability (Oxford University Press, 2020).

His popular science book, The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: Futures from the Frontiers of Climate Science (Indigo Press, 2021) describes humanity’s current trajectory and possible futures in paired chapters of pessimism and hope. Paul won International Champion in the Frontiers Planet Prize in 2023.

The Reapra Research Fellowship is supported by Reapra.