Table 2.

Policy recommendations for governments, public institutions, and private sector

Focus area	Recommendation	Related considerations and examples*
Targeted sustainability and climate work – international, national and local levels	Policy support for the systematic consideration of the role of mind and transformative qualities/capacities in the development and implementation of sustainability and climate-related policy.	Modification of existing regulations, processes and structures at all policy levels and across all sectors, e.g. how the issue of climate change is portrayed and communicated, the goals that are pursued, the measures that are promoted, how they are implemented, and the performance targets that are applied. Special units and staff mandated to support related processes.
Education – primary and secondary school, university, and adult development	Policy support for improved sustainability education, which balances knowledge development and professional skills with the cultivation of inner human qualities/capacities that underpin individual and societal flourishing and sustainability.	Legislation that ensures that education regarding ecological concerns and their important implications for future generations is balanced with the development of the inner qualities/capacities that are required to cope with the emotional cost and respond appropriately and is offered across all disciplines and sectors.
Professional development and climate leadership – all levels and sectors	Support for improved climate leadership, assisting leaders in their understanding and cultivation of inner qualities/capacities and aspects of mind that underpin comprehensive climate action at individual, collective and system levels.	Funding of leadership training that helps to develop an understanding of human biases and common psychological defence mechanisms to threatening messages, so that leaders’ climate strategies become better-informed and more likely to overcome resistance to challenging climate information and polarisation.
Health care and health promotion – international, national and local levels	Policy support for addressing eco-anxiety, -grief, and -depression for citizens, particularly the young.	Legislation to support professional training for better-recognising and addressing the mental health impacts of the climate crisis. Measures for healthy child and adult capacity development in the context of climate change and digital technology; support of inner capacities to help protect people from the negative impacts.
Research	Increased funding for critical, inter- and transdisciplinary research on the role, development and implementation of more integrative approaches that link inner and outer dimensions of climate change to support sustainability and transformation across individual, collective and system levels.	Programs for investigating the vicious cycle of climate change, threat response and trauma, poor mental health, worldviews of separateness and disengagement, and the development and testing of methods and approaches that may interrupt and reverse this cycle. Support for research into how certain methods, inner qualities/capacities and leverage points relate to the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

*See also Table 1 for further examples and measures