This began with the idea that a group of new economists, environmentalists, development campaigners and futurists TOES should challenge the right of the G7 leaders to speak for the economic future of the planet, and grew out of a series of meetings in Jonathon Porrit’s flat in 1984. The first TOES was held when the G7 came to London in July that year.
nef was designed as a permanent secretariat for TOES, but has developed into one of the largest and most prominent think-tanks in the UK, and one of the leading organisations in the world developing an economics which puts people and planet first.
Since the first TOES conference, the ideas we promoted there – green taxes, alternative economic indicators, ethical investment and social auditing – have become mainstream. We have given birth to a range of new organisations to carry on work in those fields and others, including Jubilee 2000, the Ethical Trading Iniative, AccountAbility, Time Banking UK, the London Rebuilding Society, the Community Development Finance Association and many others.
We went on to launch big ideas like time banks, social return on investment, community development finance institutions and local money flow analysis. We have put those in the hands of people who can use them as levers in their own local economies and neighbourhoods.
We have also packaged the arguments, like the Clone Town Britain campaign and the Happy Planet Index, in such a way that people are able to look at economic issues in new ways. A million people around the world downloaded our first Happy Planet Index in 2006. No policy-makers had to defend themselves against the accusation that they were creating ‘clone towns’ until 2005 when we coined the phrase. They do now.
But the work is only just beginning. A new economics is emerging all over the world, but it needs advocates, midwives, activists and entrepreneurs, and it needs people to explain it and develop policy to make it happen faster. That is what nef is dedicated to.
nef was designed as a permanent secretariat for TOES, but has developed into one of the largest and most prominent think-tanks in the UK, and one of the leading organisations in the world developing an economics which puts people and planet first.
Since the first TOES conference, the ideas we promoted there – green taxes, alternative economic indicators, ethical investment and social auditing – have become mainstream. We have given birth to a range of new organisations to carry on work in those fields and others, including Jubilee 2000, the Ethical Trading Iniative, AccountAbility, Time Banking UK, the London Rebuilding Society, the Community Development Finance Association and many others.
We went on to launch big ideas like time banks, social return on investment, community development finance institutions and local money flow analysis. We have put those in the hands of people who can use them as levers in their own local economies and neighbourhoods.
We have also packaged the arguments, like the Clone Town Britain campaign and the Happy Planet Index, in such a way that people are able to look at economic issues in new ways. A million people around the world downloaded our first Happy Planet Index in 2006. No policy-makers had to defend themselves against the accusation that they were creating ‘clone towns’ until 2005 when we coined the phrase. They do now.
But the work is only just beginning. A new economics is emerging all over the world, but it needs advocates, midwives, activists and entrepreneurs, and it needs people to explain it and develop policy to make it happen faster. That is what nef is dedicated to.