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The four SPES Policy dialogues – held respectively in Rome (May 2024), Budapest (November 2024), Florence (June 2025) and Brussels (January 2026) – established a consensus among researchers, policymakers, and activists that the global community faces a complex "poly-crisis", characterised by extreme wealth inequalities, climate change, biodiversity collapse, social exclusion, and a profound "crisis of humanity". The discussions emphasised that isolated solutions are insufficient, necessitating a systemic, integrated approach that moves decisively beyond GDP toward a holistic vision of Sustainable Human Development (SHD). Experts stressed that environmental degradation disproportionately affects vulnerable groups, and the cost of inaction on climate policy is massive and largely overlooked in political decisions. Moreover, countries in the Global South bear disproportionately higher costs for climate mitigation and adaptation. The core challenge identified is a systemic failure rooted in a dominant global economic structure that remains heavily focused on profit maximisation and growth, and prioritises GDP over holistic wellbeing, creating poorly aligned trade-offs between economic, social, and environmental goals.In response, the SPES project proposes a novel framework centred on Sustainable Human Development (SHD), which reinterprets the UN's Agenda 2030 by placing Peace at the centre and promoting five synergistic pillars: Equity, Productivity, Environmental Sustainability, Participation & Empowerment, and Human Security. This vision is fully embraced also in the "Manifesto for a New Economy," a call to fundamentally reshape economic theory and practice around multidimensional wellbeing, civic engagement, and interdisciplinary, ethics-based solutions. This systemic shift is framed not merely as a technical transition, but as an "intellectual and political adventure" that requires moving beyond the mere measurement of our decline to a fundamental redesign of our economic policies and modes of production to ensure intergenerational fairness and human flourishing.