Policy Toolkit

/Policy Toolkit
Policy Toolkit2020-01-13T12:24:18+01:00

Modifying how we live, move, and consume for an improved environment, better health and greater equity: achieving the triple-win, and a future for all to INHERIT

The urgent need to change the way we live, move and consume to respect planetary boundaries and address the climate crisis can be seized as an opportunity to invest in measures that simultaneously protect and promote health, address growing inequities and improve environmental sustainability – a ‘triple-win’. This Toolkit is intended for policymakers working at all levels of government, and those who advise and support them, to encourage a ‘triple-win’ mindset in the design and implementation of policies and interventions.

Approach

The evidence is clear: our way of life is damaging the global ecosystem and the resources on which we rely for health, well-being and our very survival. At the same time, many of the underlying factors that are damaging the environment – urbanisation and of the loss of green space, dependence on carbon based sources of energy and motorised vehicles as well as intensive farming processes and the over-production and over-consumption of unhealthy foods – undermine health and well-being in our societies. Those who are less and least well off suffer more from the negative consequences of such factors but benefit less from measures taken to address them, driving up health inequalities and social unrest.

The INHERIT Horizon 2020 research project has explored ‘triple-win’ actions (improving the environment, health and health equity) that encourage and enable behaviour change, and what can be done to multiply and scale them, to improve wellbeing in Europe and beyond, for current and future generations. This Policy Toolkit builds on INHERIT findings to provide tools and recommendations to assist policymakers in their work.

There is growing consensus that to achieve more sustainable and just societies, we must shift the focus from ever-increasing growth and production to pathways of development that emphasise wellbeing and respect our environment. Only in this way can we move towards more ‘INHERIT-able’ societies. No single actions can help to achieve this. Nevertheless, we are all part of complex systems, and single actions can trigger further actions and transformations. Considering challenges jointly and applying a ‘triple-win’ mindset to address them can go a long way to help achieve the rapid change needed to ensure the health of our planet and the necessary conditions to sustain the health and well-being of its inhabitants.

You will find more information on INHERIT’s Approach here.

Contents

This toolkit contains three tools, ten recommendations, and an annex.

The three tools can be used to support triple-win policy-making across different areas and themes. They are as follows:

  • A conceptual model to help systemic thinking for integrated governance;
  • Four positive future scenarios of what Europe could look like in 2040;
  • A database of over 100 promising practices in the areas of living, moving and consuming.
INHERIT Model
Future scenarios
Database of Promising practices

The ten recommendations in this toolkit contain detailed policy guidance for different levels of governance, as well as concrete examples drawn from INHERIT’s work:

  • Four cover the key areas that INHERIT has investigated, linked to living, moving and consuming;
  • Six focus on cross-cutting themes that are important to multiplying and scaling ‘triple-win’ actions, drawing on examples from and applicable across the areas of living, moving and consuming.

Please find the recommendations below.

The annex provides:

  • More detailed information on the 15 INHERIT case studies.
Annex

More information on relevant further reading from INHERIT can be found in this booklet of key outcomes, as well as on the INHERIT website. These outcomes include three Policy Briefs addressing Health Equity, Integrated governance, and Behaviour Change, as well as a Baseline Review on triple-win solutions and policies across the areas of living, moving and consuming, and a Policy Roadmap on effective interventions towards the ‘triple-win’.

Recommendations