Our projects

For decades, increasing GDP has been considered the main way to improve the quality of life. However, GDP growth in recent decades has not been inclusive, as both economic and well-being inequality has increased in industrialized countries. Furthermore, growth has often been accompanied by a decline in happiness, environmental quality and even social relationships, as loneliness has become a mass problem. Prioritizing well-being in policymaking promotes socially and environmentally sustainable economies where people can lead fulfilling lives, in economies driven by creativity. We propose a win-win-win-win strategy that leads to a progressive increase in well-being, sociability, environmental sustainability, inclusiveness, leisure and productivity.

Link: www.wiserhorizons.eu

Human activities jeopardise the habitability of the planet and our capacity to formulate comprehensive and democratic solutions for its restoration. The MSCA-funded EPOG-DN (Economic Policies for the Global bifurcation -Doctoral Network) project aims to establish a community of economists capable of collaborating with various disciplines, sectors and stakeholders to address ecological challenges. It gathers 7 full partners (beneficiaries) and 13 associated partners from different fields and sectors. This project explores the pathways toward achieving strong sustainability, where social, economic and environmental objectives are not substitutable with each other. The project introduces the concept of global bifurcation, which encompasses a range of multidimensional and systemic processes. The project proposes a distinctive strategy for tackling the complexity of global bifurcation, which involves a socio-technical, socio-economic and socio-ecological perspective, all working in concert to develop a systemic approach.

Link: www.epog-dn.eu

Through the systemic approach, Ecoesione is able to increase the capacity for intervention and promote participatory training and learning processes. We know that the social partners, businesses, the third sector, local and national authorities, environmental and social promotion associations are key players in this process. But they have different interests, often conflicting with each other, which make it difficult to overcome the status quo. Research can help create a sustainable society both on a scientific and cultural level, but to do so it must be based on dialogue, collaboration and inclusion of the different actors involved in and by research, to increase creativity and share responsibility for the process. the project involved economists, sociologists and jurists from the Departments of Economics and Management and Political Sciences and the Interdisciplinary Centre for Peace Studies at the University of Pisa. To analyze the social barriers to the transition and identify solutions to remove them, a macro-simulation model applied to Italy was developed that considers in a systemic framework the relationships between energy use, emissions and socioeconomic variables, including income, unemployment, inequality, and the gender gap.

Link: ecoesione.ec.unipi.it/social-cohesion-in-the-ecological-transition/

The project “Low-carbon society: an enhanced modelling tool for the transition to sustainability” (LOCOMOTION) aims to design a set of IAMs (Integrated Assessment Models) to provide policy makers and stakeholders with a modelling and assessment system to evaluate the feasibility, effectiveness and costs of different sustainability policy options, in order to identify the most effective transition pathways towards a low-carbon society. The outcome is a robust and reliable tool based on system dynamic modelling of relevant environmental, energy, economic, social, technological and biophysical variables, which will enable scenario diagnosis and assessment. The IAM model is open source and provides decision support, training and social awareness.

Link: https://www.locomotion-h2020.eu/