Activism in a new climate | Conference and theatre, Manchester 29 Apr 2020
Appeals for people to act now in response to the climate emergency surround us. Many of them focus on the responsibility of the individual to act: to eat less meat, to drive less, to fly less. Does this focus on the role of individuals underestimate the challenge of...
#TODAYFORTOMORROW | Lord Bird introduces Future Generations Bill
Our politics is too short-term. Our democracy seems unable to deal with long-term challenges. But change is at hand. With support from FDSD and other partners, The Big Issue founder, Lord Bird, has introduced the Future Generations Bill in the UK Parliament, and is...
Future Generations Podcast | Reasons to be Cheerful with FDSD trustee Andrea Westall
“When they go short-term, we go long-term…” FDSD trustee Andrea Westall recently joined Ed Miliband and Geoff Lloyd for their Reasons to be Cheerful Podcast, to discuss the urgent need for representation of future generations in today’s politics....
Democratic Reform, Intergenerational Justice and the Challenges of the Long-Term | Essay by Simon Caney
Philosophical essay by Simon Caney on the morality of prosperity, intertemporal politics and a re-imagination of our political life. Political life is dominated by ‘presentism’ and a focus on the short-term. This political myopia is harmful in two important ways....
Intergenerational Fairness Criteria | Round Tables – London, 17 April 2019
Together with the FDSD, the School of International Futures (an organisation that helps policy-makers, business leaders and communities make strategic choices, manage risk and become future-ready) is hosting a Round Table on Intergenerational Fairness taking place on...
Taking the Long View | February 2019
In this February 2019 edition of Taking the Long View, we focus on the loudening call for citizens to lead a new approach to decision making that can steer our democracies towards a greener, fairer future. 
Call for applicants to join our board
FDSD is a London-based think tank that explores the critical links between flourishing democracy and sustainable development. Through research, advocacy and dialogue, we build the evidence and make the connections needed to secure fairness for all and a healthy...
Promoting public involvement in Wales | Blog by Bethan Smith
Bethan Smith is Goal Convenor for Involvement, Office for the Future Generations Commissioner, Wales. . . . Through the 2015 Well-being of Future Generations Act, all devolved public bodies in Wales are legally required to put sustainable development first; that is,...
“You won’t get it right all of the time, but give it a go.”—Sara Parkin in conversation with Peter Davies
Sara Parkin is Principal Associate of The Sustainability Literacy Project, and Founder-Director of Forum for the Future. Her 2010 book The Positive Deviant: Sustainability Leadership in a Perverse World has become a course book in many countries. Its sequel What Does...
Lord John Bird calls for Future Generations Act for the UK
Delivering the inaugural Well-being of Future Generations Commissioner for Wales’ Annual Lecture, The Big Issue founder and crossbench peer, John Bird, called for the approach to long-term thinking pioneered in Wales to be rolled out across the rest of...
With democracy becoming an endangered species, is sustainability in peril? | A reflection by Sara Parkin, November 2018
In 2008, Sara Parkin wrote a provocation for the FDSD: “Are Political Parties getting in the way of the sort of collaborative democracy we need to tackle sustainability? If so, what can we do about it?” Ten years later, she revisits her thinking, “in the...
The Future We Want: Shaping Environmental Politics | Networking event, London 26 Oct 2018
We are delighted to invite you to a joint networking event with the PSA Specialist Group Environmental Politics, GreenHouse, Policy Connect and FDSD on 26 October 2018 in London. Designed as a space for policymakers, academics and environmental NGOs to discuss...
Protecting the Interests of Future Generations — Drawing Lessons from Practice | Paper by Victor Anderson, CUSP
A new paper by the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity, authored by FDSD associate Victor Anderson, considers possible reforms to UK constitutional and political arrangements intended to help overcome the problem of a lack of representation of...
Why we need a Committee for Future Generations in the House of Lords | Blog by Graham Smith
The Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development has proposed that the House of Lords establish a Committee for Future Generations to review legislation. It is hoped that such a body would reduce the short-termism that can creep into legislative and executive...
Will the Future Blame Us? Bringing Future Generations into Today’s Politics | London, 19 April 2018
The FDSD and the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries are delighted to invite you to a joint evening event on 19 April 2018 in London. Bringing together experts from the policymaking community with academics and those from the actuarial profession and elsewhere...
Governing Geo-Engineering? | New Report by ETC Group, BiofuelWatch and Heinrich-Böll Foundation
“It is much easier for us to imagine the end of the world than a small change in the political system”, Slavoj Zizek famously said. The same is true for altering the earth climate system according to a recent report by the Canadian ETC-Group, BiofuelWatch and...
Citizens, participation and the economy | Interim report from the RSA Citizen’s Economic Council
There are many reasons why more democratic and deliberative approaches to economics are necessary and valuable: shaping better and more informed economic decisions, promoting transparency over economic priorities, and strengthening the quality of democracy and public...
Harnessing democracy and engagement for sustainable prosperity
As environmental crises become ever more severe, voices are reappearing that call for authoritarian solutions: Democracy, so the argument goes, has proven to be too slow to respond to urgent threats, and so a stronger, authoritarian hand is needed to push through the...
Decentralised Development Cooperation—the new driver for SDG implementation
Development cooperation isn’t only a matter between national governments anymore, a recent article by Stefano Marta and Aziza Akhmouch from the OECD finds – collaboration proves to be rather successful between local and regional authorities in different...Sign up for newsletter
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