After the success of the 2020 pilot academy, the Future Generations Leadership Academy has returned in 2021 to inspire the next generation of Welsh leaders.

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.

And although many things have changed since growing up as a mixed-race kid in Cardiff in the 80s, I feel there is a great deal to improve upon - and this is a job that we can all get involved in together.

I recognise the significant challenges that the Welsh Government has faced in the past year, and it is positive that the draft budget for 2021-22, published in December 2020, emphasises the importance of a green and just recovery.

People making a positive difference to Wales’ present and future are being spotlighted by the first Future Generations Commissioner, Sophie Howe, as she comes to the end of her seven-year term.

Working in collaboration with Cardiff University, the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales has undertaken research and a Section 20 Review, to establish the extent to which the Act has been informing procurement decisions across the public bodies in Wales since 2016 (when the Act came into force).  

Ten years ago the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) launched a pioneering report – Zero carbon Britain – showing that we have the technology and solutions to reduce our carbon emissions down to zero.

The Well-being of Future Generations Act gives us the encouragement, the permission and the statutory obligation to make the changes needed to improve our social, cultural, environmental and economic well-being

Involvement is at the heart of the Well-being of Future Generations Act. Since the creation of the Future Generations Commissioner in 2016, our office has involved thousands of people to support and inform our work. Some of the involvement projects we have undertaken to date include

The forthcoming budget is a defining moment for the Welsh Government.

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. 

The Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, Sophie Howe, in collaboration with Literature Wales and Wales Arts International, is announcing an exciting opportunity for an emerging poet to bring the Well-being of Future Generations Act to life.

The purpose of our work is to estimate the total funding needed for the decarbonisation of homes in Wales, identify funding gaps and suggest approaches to addressing these gaps.

This specification is open to anyone interested in an opportunity to work with the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales (FGCW), to provide economic and analytical support for our work on a green, equal and just recovery from the pandemic.  

Wales should explore paying everyone a basic income to study how it could improve lives for generations in the future, the First Minister is being urged.

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

“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."

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."

The Well-being of Future Generations Act requires you to use the five ways of working to maximise your contribution to the seven well-being goals – a number of which relate to climate change and low carbon.

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.

A radical, ground-breaking culture change is essential if public bodies are going to provide better service provision, now and for future generations

Sophie Howe, will join Prince William, Pope Francis, Al Gore, and over 50 notable speakers at the first ever free TED conference this Saturday.

A future-fit curriculum for our children, solar panels saving a hospital £1m a year in electric bills, a road building freeze and hundreds of people receiving a basic income – these are just some of the changes Wales is making thanks to its world-leading Well-being of Future Generations Act.

Wales is leading the way to protect future generations, the United Nations has said.

We will make it our mission to ensure all Welsh public bodies achieve their net zero and nature positive goals by 2030. As a result, public bodies are leading action on climate change including adaptation, in a way that reduces inequalities and maximises the benefits to people and communities across Wales.

The Future Generations Commissioner for Wales has welcomed the Welsh Government’s budget published yesterday but says the Government is still not comprehensively demonstrating how spending is meeting the climate emergency and how across the board it is shifting its spend towards preventing problems from occurring rather than trying to fix them afterwards.

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.

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

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

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?

“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."

This report sets out my assessment of progress made in implementing the Act within the first reporting period, i.e. the last three years

To mark International Women’s Day, Sophie Howe, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales has announced a new staff policy that provides support and paid leave to staff who are victims of domestic abuse so that they can leave the abuse and secure safe accommodation.

The work we do in Wales continues to inspire organisations and governments internationally.

When MAGOR was launched on 14th March 2013, the group realised from the outset the enormity of the tasks facing them. The first challenge was to get the walkway concept and business plans agreed and funded by governments and the rail industry.

The Commissioner has also published advice to Welsh Government with 10 recommendations for they should build on the progress they have made in the draft budget this time around to take more ambitious and transformational steps from 2019 onwards.

This paper is one of a series of reports being launched as part of the IWA’s ‘Re-energising Wales’ project, which in early 2019 will deliver a plan to enable Wales to meet its projected energy demands entirely from renewable sources by 2035. The report highlights a number of practical steps that can be taken to overcome Wales’ challenges.

The Future Generations Framework for Scrutiny has been created to support decision-making in the context of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

A catalyst for wellbeing of future generations in Wales - a special report by Wildlife Trusts Wales

Education fit for the Future A White Paper For discussion Produced by Professor Calvin Jones in collaboration with the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales

The Future Generations Commissioner role, was established by the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 - a pioneering piece of legislation which is unique to Wales

As the summer holidays begin and many of us look forward to spending time with our own future generations, we’re reminded of just what well-being really means; spending time with loved ones, a bike-ride in the sunshine, or simply taking a well-earned break, it’s important to take stock of what’s already been a busy 2019.

We know we can’t tackle the challenges facing our future with the solutions we relied on in the past. Especially when those very ways of working often are what have created the global issues we face in the first place.

On a sunny day in June 2018, I was privileged to be invited to attend the Inaugural EU Cities Fair and Ethical Trade Award Ceremony, in Brussels along with representatives from 15 other EU countries.

The events throughout June have highlighted just what can happen when people make their voices heard about what matters to them. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to raise your voice for future generations.

Young leaders from all over the world will come together in London this week to discuss some of the biggest global issues facing future generations. From climate change to education inequalities, the future of work and media freedom.

Can't change slow got to change completely - Rufus Mufasa, Poet in Residence

Sophie Howe says we have  a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to reset Wales’ economy and is calling for “visionary ideas and transformative investment” in the nation’s recovery plan. 

Cardiff is a really exciting place at the moment. We have a young and fast-growing city, with jobs being created, houses being built and a billion pounds worth of regional rail infrastructure on its way. There’s a real buzz about the capital city.

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.

In response to a British Medical Association survey that revealed that a quarter of GPs in Wales are considering leaving the profession.

Poverty in Wales would be halved if Welsh Government commits to a progressive Universal Basic Income (UBI), according to a major study commissioned by the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, Sophie Howe.

Wales urgently needs a Universal Basic Income to help the country deal with the effects of COVID-19, Future Generations Commissioner Sophie Howe says.

This Sunday my daughter and I will be taking part in something significant. We will be joining thousands of women across the country marching to commemorate the brave women who came before us 100 years ago who marched, campaigned, starved and even died to get us the vote. 

I am pleased to be publishing the first Future Generations Report.

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. 

“We have recently declared a climate emergency in Wales but are failing to take the action at the scale or pace needed to meet our carbon emission targets. The impact of climate change is already evident in Wales with 23% of our coastline being eroded because of rising sea water as well as the risk of losing 1 in 14 of our wildlife species. Yet it is still our younger generations who are leading the debate and holding governments to account on their lack of action to combat climate change,” said Sophie Howe, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales.

The announcement back in March this year that the UK was going into lockdown was a shock to us all and created significant challenges as we navigated a new world which largely required us to stay at home.

Following Welsh Government’s publication of an update to the Welsh Infrastructure Investment Plan, Monday, 4th November, the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales has called on the Welsh Government to publish its carbon impact assessments to evidence how they are taking steps to tackle the climate emergency.

“This is a huge step in the right direction for the healthier, resilient and more equal Wales and shows the difference having a Well-being of Future Generations Act makes."

Supporting community climate action is essential if local councils are to help Wales cut climate-warming carbon emissions and reach net zero, the Future Generations Commissioner said today. [Tuesday, March 5.]

Wales’ Future Generations Commissioner is visiting Dublin, Ireland, this week as both countries share learnings on protecting future generations by law.

The Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, Sophie Howe, has asked Welsh Government to explain how decisions are being made on Wales’ road-building freeze exemptions.

The Future Generations Commissioner for Wales says the Well-being of Future Generations Act should be used to future-proof against further cost of living emergencies.

Wales’ new champion for the future of the nation is using his first day in the job to call for “urgent and transformational change” to improve people’s lives now and in the future.

Wales has a huge story to tell at COP26 – our Well-being of Future Generations Act.

Currently in Wales we have a major skills gap. This is only going to widen as we move to green technologies and green jobs. We know that if Wales is to be prosperous, we need our workers to have the skills for the jobs of the future.

A new transport vision for Wales’ future that prioritises public transport and active travel is a positive step towards shifting the nation’s travel habits, says Future Generations Commissioner Sophie Howe.

Public bodies in Wales spend over £6 billion each year procuring a range of goods, services and works; this represents nearly a third of total devolved Welsh annual expenditure, and it is estimated that over the next decade Welsh public services will spend over £60 billion.