Abstract
Sweden and Malmö are widely considered forerunners of climate change mitigation and adaptation, both internationally and by self-proclamation. Political will, available resources, and public knowledge are fairly high. National and local policies and regulations are in place, and a dominant majority of Swedes is well informed about climate change and the associated obligations, seeing climate change as real and a risk for themselves and others in Sweden (Blennow & Persson, 2009).
Despite this situation, progress remains slow, as for all advanced industrialised economies (IPCC, 2018). According to the World Wide Fund for Nature Living Planet Report (WWF, 2016; 2020) Swedes are living a lifestyle that would require the equivalent of around 4.2 Earths to sustain, which places Sweden close to the likes of the United States when it comes to its consumption footprint.
The failure in current approaches to address climate change relates to the fact that they have mainly focused on external factors, such as wider socio-economic structures, governance dynamics and technology. Hardly any efforts have been concerned with the personal, inner drivers of change (Wamsler, 2020). This is unfortunate, as people’s mindsets lie at the root of sustainability challenges and are thus fundamental to the solutions. They involve people’s beliefs, values, worldviews and associated inner qualities or capacities, which can be both forces of change or reproduce current unsustainable paradigms. New approaches are urgently needed.
Despite this situation, progress remains slow, as for all advanced industrialised economies (IPCC, 2018). According to the World Wide Fund for Nature Living Planet Report (WWF, 2016; 2020) Swedes are living a lifestyle that would require the equivalent of around 4.2 Earths to sustain, which places Sweden close to the likes of the United States when it comes to its consumption footprint.
The failure in current approaches to address climate change relates to the fact that they have mainly focused on external factors, such as wider socio-economic structures, governance dynamics and technology. Hardly any efforts have been concerned with the personal, inner drivers of change (Wamsler, 2020). This is unfortunate, as people’s mindsets lie at the root of sustainability challenges and are thus fundamental to the solutions. They involve people’s beliefs, values, worldviews and associated inner qualities or capacities, which can be both forces of change or reproduce current unsustainable paradigms. New approaches are urgently needed.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Publisher | Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS) |
Number of pages | 70 |
Publication status | Accepted/In press - 2021 |
Subject classification (UKÄ)
- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
Free keywords
- climate governance
- Inner transformation
- Inner transition
- Paradigms
- Participation
- political agency
- sustainability transitions
- Worldviews