by Cat Tully | Jun 22, 2015
There is an opportunity now for the Government to learn from the comprehensive Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act and establish an early form of a Future Generations Commissioner for the whole UK by October’s Budget. The danger is that in the forthcoming...
by Andrea Westall | Jun 21, 2015
John Lotherington audits the election campaign to find how far discussion about future generations and sustainable development could be heard above the electoral din. Future generations were important in the election if all that mattered was the national debt. The...
by Ann Thorpe | May 25, 2015 | News and Comment
“There remains a democratic deficit within planning.” -Five Radical Ideas for a Better Planning System A group at University College London’s Bartlett School of Planning, led by Professor Yvonne Rydin, has proposed five radical ideas for better planning, with two...
by Ann Thorpe | Apr 27, 2015 | News and Comment
In March the European Environment Agency published its State and Outlook Environment Report (SOER) 2015 (available here). The report highlights innovations in governance needed for long term sustainability. In addition, a section of the SOER website highlights global...
by Ann Thorpe | Apr 24, 2015 | News and Comment
How should we account for the fact that a great deal of environmental damage associated with one’s own country actually occurs overseas? For example, Chinese manufacturers making our shoes, electronics and bicycles emit a lot of carbon on our behalf. Are...
by Graham Smith | Apr 23, 2015
An Office for Future Generations is an independent institution designed to promote long-term interests in the political process. A small number of examples exist in countries such as Hungary – and very soon Wales. This report, first published in 2015, supports the...
by Andrea Westall | Apr 2, 2015
The UK climate act formed the Committee on Climate Change to advise on UK policy (Photo: The CCC) The UK’s 2008 Climate Change Act was one of the first pieces of national legislation to recognise carbon limits and to commit successive governments to binding...
by Andrea Westall | Oct 20, 2014
“Transition Network is a charitable organisation whose role is to inspire, encourage, connect, support and train communities as they self-organise around the Transition model, creating initiatives that rebuild resilience and reduce CO2 emissions.” The Transition...
by Andrea Westall | Aug 28, 2014
FDSD submitted a response on 1st September 2015 to the Environmental Audit Committee’s consultation on The Government’s Approach to Sustainable Development. The EAC’s consultation aims to stocktake the current UK Government approach to sustainable...
by Andrea Westall | Oct 21, 2012
Halina Ward argues that a core challenge is to balance national strategic priority-setting with local community engagement. Using the example of on-shore windfarms, she sets out the questions that need answering: what processes of deliberation?, how far can local...
by Andrea Westall | Nov 21, 2011
More than 2/3rds of British people believed in this 2011 IPSOS-MORI poll that the UK Government considers future generations too little in its decisions. Nearly half of those interviewed (45%) think passing on a healthy planet is more important than a thriving economy...
by Andrea Westall | Oct 21, 2011
FDSD joined 28 other organisations, including the National Trust and the Town and Country Planning Association, to call for the then Localism Bill (now Localism Act) to be amended to include a definition of sustainable development. “We believe that achieving...
by Andrea Westall | Oct 21, 2011
When FDSD learned that new administrative arrangements for Hungary’s Commissioner for Future Generations could water down the role of this unique institution, despite strengthened protection for the environment and future generations in Hungary’s new constitution, we...
by Andrea Westall | Oct 21, 2011
Following the suggestions of Intergenerational Foundation’s report Hoarding of Housing: the intergenerational crisis in the housing market, Halina Ward argues that the UK Government has no consistent approach to future generations, and that ‘future generation’...
by Andrea Westall | Oct 21, 2011
FDSD submitted evidence to the PASC (Public Administration Select Committee) Inquiry into Government policy and the capacity for strategic thinking in Whitehall arguing that the UK needs to create new institutions to overcome short-term electoral cycles, and to have...
by Andrea Westall | Oct 21, 2011
FDSD warned about “signs of erosion in the overall global political commitment to sustainable development” and recommended urgent action to accept the reality of planetary boundaries, address political short-termism and create institutions to ensure that...
by Andrea Westall | Oct 21, 2011
FDSD joined other NGOs to urge the European Commission to redress a bias towards economic and business issues in its communications leading up to Rio+20, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012. In, for example, a recent communication Rio+20: towards the...
by Andrea Westall | Sep 21, 2011
On 9th September 2010, UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg called for a “horizon shift” to respond to a political culture and society which has become too short-term. Halina argues that, whilst the analysis is good, the proposed solutions – increased mobility...
by Andrea Westall | Dec 21, 2010
This report suggests ten governance options for the UK to embed a more future-oriented approach in UK politics, including an Office for Future Generations to an annual Congress of the Future and a new parliamentary chamber. Peter Roderick highlights some of the UK’s...
by Andrea Westall | Oct 21, 2010
FDSD and WWF-UK argued that sustainable development should be a central organizing principle of national and local government alongside constitutional, legislative and executive protections. We argued for institutional innovations such as the Hungarian Parliamentary...
