The Planetary Wellbeing Initiative: Pursuing the Sustainable Development Goals in Higher Education

Josep M. Antó, José Luis Martí, Jaume Casals, Paul Bou-Habib, Paula Casal, Marc Fleurbaey, Howard Frumkin, Manel Jiménez-Morales, Jacint Jordana, Carla Lancelotti, Humberto Llavador, Lela Mélon, Ricard Solé, Francesc Subirada and Andrew Williams
Additional contact information
Josep M. Antó: Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM), Pompeu Fabra University, 08002 Barcelona, Spain
José Luis Martí: Department of Law, Faculty of Law, Pompeu Fabra University, 08005 Barcelona, Spain
Jaume Casals: Department of Humanities, Pompeu Fabra University, 08002 Barcelona, Spain
Paul Bou-Habib: Department of Government, University of Essex, Colchester CO4 3SQ, UK
Paula Casal: ICREA, Passeig Lluís Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain
Howard Frumkin: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1616, USA
Manel Jiménez-Morales: Department of Communication, Pompeu Fabra University, 08005 Barcelona, Spain
Carla Lancelotti: Department of Humanities, Pompeu Fabra University, 08002 Barcelona, Spain
Lela Mélon: Department of Law, Faculty of Law, Pompeu Fabra University, 08005 Barcelona, Spain
Ricard Solé: Department of Experimental Sciences, Pompeu Fabra University, 08005 Barcelona, Spain
Francesc Subirada: UPF initiative for the Knowledge Citadel, Pompeu Fabra University, 08002 Barcelona, Spain
Andrew Williams: ICREA, Passeig Lluís Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 6, 1-11

Abstract: We live in a time of pressing planetary challenges, many of which threaten catastrophic change to the natural environment and require massive and novel coordinated scientific and societal efforts on an unprecedented scale. Universities and other academic institutions have the opportunity and responsibility to assume a leading role in an era when the destiny of the planet is precisely in the hands of human beings. Drawing on the Planetary Health project promoted by the Rockefeller Foundation and The Lancet , Pompeu Fabra University launched in 2018 the Planetary Wellbeing Initiative, a long-term institutional strategy also animated by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Planetary Wellbeing might be defined as the highest attainable standard of wellbeing for human and non-human beings and their social and natural systems. Developing the potential of these new concepts involves a substantial theoretical and empirical effort in many different fields, all of them interrelated by the crosscutting challenges of global complexity, interdisciplinarity, and urgency. Close collaboration of science, humanities, and culture is more desperately needed now than ever before in the history of humankind.

Keywords: planetary wellbeing; Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); planetary challenges; climate change; global health; complexity; interdisciplinarity; urgency; higher education; university transformation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Working Paper: The Planetary Wellbeing Initiative: Pursuing the Sustainable Development Goals in Higher Education (2021)
Working Paper: The Planetary Wellbeing Initiative: Pursuing the Sustainable Development Goals in Higher Education (2021)
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