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Advancing energy and well-being research

Abstract

Energy and climate change mitigation analysis rooted in economic relationships alone is largely disconnected from the advancement of well-being. We propose an interdisciplinary research agenda that relates energy use to individual well-being through consumption by building bridges between the social sciences, energy–economic models and climate policy analysis. Through these linkages, we may better characterize the potential for less harmful and more meaningful consumption that improves human well-being while reducing carbon emissions.

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Fig. 1: Conceptual linkages between human well-being and climate change through consumption and its derived energy demand.

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Acknowledgements

C.W. was supported by UK ESRC grant ES/S012257/1 (CAST).

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Correspondence to Narasimha D. Rao.

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Peer review information Nature Sustainability thanks Enrica De Cian, Manfred Lenzen and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Rao, N.D., Wilson, C. Advancing energy and well-being research. Nat Sustain 5, 98–103 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00775-7

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