SWICE position paper on wellbeing

This document aims to help ensure consistent use of wellbeing in all work packages and activities of SWICE (Sustainable Wellbeing for the Individual and the Collectivity in the Energy transition). Sustainability is usually defined as a practice that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland 1987), which corresponds to wellbeing for all within planetary boundaries. SWICE aims to answer the question for Switzerland: how to improve wellbeing for all with a much lower resource footprint, especially energy? While completely absent from political discourse, this question is probably the most important one the country is facing. Simply constraining resource use without changing the way society is organized will reduce overall wellbeing. A positive outcome requires a culture of sufficiency, better provisioning systems, reduced inequalities, as well as adapting rules, laws, and institutions. Identifying and validating such conditions is the focus of SWICE.