French lessons - on economic growth, wine and wellbeing

In 2009 President Sarkozy's big commission on economic growth reported that we need to go "beyond GDP" as a measure of progress. Last November David Cameron announced the UK Government was going to start measuring "wellbeing".

The British and French are leading the way - yesterday I went to a Franco-British Council event on how to take these initiatives forward. And as the participants sipped red wine over a one-and-a-half hour lunch break, instead of a ten-minute snatched sandwich in front of a computer screen, I did think - hey, we can learn a lot about wellbeing from our continental cousins.

The discussion was clear that "wellbeing" is about more than just measures of "happiness" - including economic security, freedom from crime, decent health services, a healthy environment. This stuff seems more concrete - measuring happiness just seems too subjective to me. Apparently the British rate themselves 7 out of 10 on a happiness scale. But what use is such a figure? It reminded me of the scene in the film Annie Hall, where Woody Allen and Diane Keaton are a couple visiting their psychotherapists:

Woody's shrink:        How often do you sleep together?
Woody:                       Hardly ever. Maybe three times a week.

Diane's shrink:          Do you have sex often?
Diane :                        Constantly. I'd say three times a week.

As important though as what the indicators are is how they're used when deciding national policy, particularly economic policy. Here there were fewer answers - a critical question is how to ensure that countries' economic recovery from recession doesn't continue to wreck the climate and biodiversity we all depend on. But how to include environmental capital in these economic decisions still seems to be frustratingly difficult and mired in technical complexity.

One good way forward is the UK's own carbon budget approach. In theory, this caps the amount of greenhouse gas emissions the UK can emit to safe levels. There are still teething problems - the current cap is set at extremely risky levels, and the Energy Select Committee said last week there's a real danger the Government's policies are not strong enough to guarantee staying even within that budget.

But these details can be ironed out. The carbon budget approach should be taken up by other countries - and we're working with other Friends of the Earth groups in Europe on this. It could also be extended to other environmental problems - land use, materials,water. More complicated maybe, but perhaps a way out of the current impasses.

After the event I had an hour to kill before my train home, so I went to the Crown and Anchor in Euston for a pint. It was packed with happy, laughing people - there are few things as good as a busy pub. The French may have long lunches for their wellbeing, but the British have evenings down the boozer. I wonder if alongside tackling climate change, the recession and inequality, any decent British wellbeing strategy should also have a section on helping out British pubs as well.

The UK's wellbeing strategy is out for consultation now - go answer their questionnaire - it only takes five minutes. You could do it this lunch while you're eating your sandwich...