Fuel poverty could be eradicated in Wales by 2030 if Welsh Government commits to a long-term plan to improve the efficiency of our homes, says the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales.

People in Wales should be able to access nature four minutes from where they live, the Future Generations Commissioner is announcing during National Tree Week.

Since the bike-sharing scheme launched in Cardiff earlier this year, I was one of the people that took advantage of the scheme and began travelling using the nextbike for my everyday travels across the city. After using them a few times, I started raving about it to my friends and family, or anyone who would listen, and getting them to use it too.

Wales needs to up the scale and pace on delivering its future generations law, says the Future Generations Commissioner, as he launches his new strategy, Cymru Can. 

Guest blog on planning

What I’ve learnt about climate change since becoming Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, earlier this year, is quite simply frightening. There is no doubt that it’s the greatest challenge facing future generations and action is urgently needed across the public sector to reduce our emissions and its impacts.

“What role do you think young people could play in shaping Cardiff Capital Region?” I asked twelve of the city region’s leaders and chief executives in my research interviews.

The interconnections of people and planet: health depends on nature.

Here, he explains the next steps and why he believes Cymru Can use the Well-being of Future Generations Act to make Wales a better place to live for now and future generations.

When you hear about how things work elsewhere you tend to compare it to what you know and are used to. In that regard learning about how America is governed has been a bit of an eye opener for me - I studied it in a relatively, small doses during my degree but seeing it first-hand is something else.

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed deep structural inequalities in our economy and society including wage poverty, health inequalities, racial disparities, food poverty, job insecurity and imbalances in quality of housing. At the same time climate and ecological breakdown is escalating, and we risk exacerbating all of these challenges if we go back to the way things were.

We have the opportunity to create a better Wales for current and future generations.

Recently the Future Generations Commissioner called for the Welsh Government to instil the value of “kindness” at every level of government and public policy in order to meet the requirements of the Well-being and Future Generations Act.

The UK’s first 'guardian of the not-yet-born’ is encouraging other countries at COP27 this week to protect future generations from the climate, nature and cost of living emergencies by law. 

“All my life I have wanted to become a doctor, however in my second year of studies, when I started plugging myself in to different communities and meeting different people through networking, I realised there was so much to do. And impacts to be made in so many ways."

Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, 1984 by George Orwell and the complete works of Shakespeare are some of the books that have shaped the way we think, inspired change and left an indelible mark on future generations.

Thousands of new ‘future-fit' jobs could be created if the new Welsh Government embraces a radical vision for Wales, according to the Future Generations Commissioner.

The late and pioneering Arfon Rhys is to be thanked for introducing me to the Scharmer U Theory in 2007. Broadly speaking, this theory of ‘change’ states that individuals, who are responsible for introducing change, must take a number of mental and preparatory steps before they are in a position to implement new strategy to its full potential.

We’re celebrating Black History Month #proudtobe with stories from Black people across Wales on lessons Black history can teach us about the future.  Here, Jessica Dunrod, 32, author, translator, and education and inclusion consultant, from Cardiff, talks about the importance of representation and why complacency is one of the biggest threats to future generations... 

“When I look at my life it feels like I really take after my mother."

Imagine a person born 50 or 100 years into the future - how is their life going to be made worse or better by what you do today?

“I grew up in Conway in St Lucia, and I had the most wonderful childhood - growing up in the Caribbean - playing ‘Ticky Tock’ with these nice little stones, going on the boats and by the beach."

Wales’ political parties must act now on the urgent priorities of the nation’s young people, the world’s first Future Generations Commissioner has warned.

“I’ve always had a love for nature, and I gravitated towards it. Nature taught me what society wasn’t willing to."