Who Is Out Front?

…when it comes to doughnut economics?

The initiatives with the strongest current momentum toward Doughnut Economics goals (meeting everyone’s needs within planetary boundaries through regenerative and distributive design) are primarily happening at the subnational level (cities and regions), supported by growing beyond-GDP / well-being economy efforts at national and international scales.

These stand out because they are already being implemented at meaningful scale, have practical tools and networks behind them, and directly address both the social foundation shortfalls and ecological overshoot highlighted in the 2025 Nature paper by Fanning & Raworth.

1. City and Regional Government Experiments (Highest Current Traction)

This is currently the most advanced and promising arena. The Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL) supports over 50 local and regional governments worldwide that are actively embedding or experimenting with Doughnut principles in policy, strategy, budgeting, and decision-making.

Standout examples:

•  Amsterdam (Netherlands): One of the earliest and most ambitious adopters. Uses Doughnut thinking in its Circular Economy strategy and supports the Amsterdam Donut Coalition. Focuses on regenerative design, reducing overshoot while improving social outcomes.

•  Tomelilla (Sweden): A smaller municipality (population ~7,000) doing deep, practical integration — applying Doughnut principles to infrastructure, education, and producing an annual “Doughnut portrait” to track progress against social and ecological dimensions.

•  Other active places: Barcelona, Glasgow, Mexico City, Brussels, Ipoh (Malaysia), and various German and UK localities. Many participated in the C40 Thriving Cities initiative that helped pioneer Doughnut tools.

Why these have strong potential:

•  They are agile enough to test regenerative (circular, nature-based) and distributive (equitable, participatory) approaches quickly.

•  They can measure local impact on both social shortfalls and ecological boundaries.

•  Network effects via DEAL allow rapid learning and scaling of what works.

•  They directly tackle the inequality highlighted in the 2025 paper (wealthier places reducing their overshoot while supporting global equity).

2. Well-Being Economy and Beyond-GDP Institutional Shifts

These efforts aim to change the rules of the game by moving measurement and policy away from GDP growth as the primary goal — a core requirement for Doughnut Economics.

Key initiatives:

•  Well-being Economy Governments (WEGo) partnership — Includes Scotland, New Zealand, Iceland, Wales, and others. They are developing policies and metrics focused on well-being, equity, and sustainability rather than GDP alone.

•  UN High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP (appointed 2025, with reports and recommendations advancing in 2026) — Working on dashboards that integrate well-being, equity, and planetary health. Backed by the 2024 Pact for the Future.

•  Beyond GDP Global Alliance (led by Spain with OECD and UN support) — Launched to integrate broader metrics into policy and financing.

•  OECD’s ongoing work on well-being and beyond-GDP indicators.

Why these have strong potential:

•  They operate at the level of national accounting and incentives, which could create systemic pressure for regenerative and distributive outcomes.

•  They align closely with the social foundation (well-being, equity) and ecological ceiling (planetary health).

•  Growing institutional momentum (UN, OECD) gives them legitimacy and potential for widespread adoption.

3. Circular and Regenerative Economy Policies at Larger Scale

•  EU Circular Economy Action Plan and Green Deal — These represent the largest-scale policy push for regenerative design (reducing waste, keeping materials in use, restoring ecosystems). They have legal and financial backing across 27 countries.

•  Corporate and business networks adopting regenerative models (supported by DEAL’s business tools for distributive and regenerative design).

Why promising:

•  They directly target ecological overshoot through systemic redesign rather than incremental efficiency.

•  When combined with social equity measures, they support the full Doughnut vision.

Realistic Assessment of Impact

Best current pathway: A combination of bottom-up experimentation in cities/regions (where real-world testing and innovation is happening fastest) + top-down shifts in measurement and incentives (beyond-GDP efforts). Local successes can demonstrate what works and build political will for larger-scale change.

Strengths of current initiatives:

•  Concrete adoption (50+ local governments, multiple national experiments).

•  Strong tools and networks (DEAL, C40, WEGo).

•  Growing alignment with the urgency shown in the 2025 Nature paper.

Major challenges (per the 2025 findings):

•  The required speed is very high: social progress needs to accelerate roughly fivefold, while ecological overshoot must stop immediately and reverse.

•  Inequality between rich and poor nations remains a core barrier.

•  Political and economic resistance to moving beyond growth paradigms is significant.

Overall outlook: These initiatives have the best realistic chance right now because they are already moving from theory to practice at scale, unlike purely theoretical or small-pilot efforts. Their success will depend on accelerating what’s working locally, linking it to national/international measurement reforms, and explicitly connecting social equity with ecological regeneration.

The most powerful near-term lever appears to be the global network of cities and regions supported by DEAL — they can deliver visible results quickly while pressuring higher levels of government.