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.]

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.

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 leaders, the people, they rolled over like spent dogs, yawned above the warnings’

“The debate around the future of the chronically congested M4 has been too much about the needs of the car and not enough about the needs of the people of South East Wales and our environment.

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.

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

At this year’s COP28, the world’s nations have for the first time agreed that we must all transition away from fossil fuels. While this is a historic moment for us as global citizens and for our planet, it has failed to capture the urgency of the situation. 

We are very pleased to see the Welsh Government publish this important report today accepting the recommendations of the Roads Review Panel which we supported. We thank them and Dr Lyn Sloman for their evident commitment to transforming the way we will move around Wales.  

I’m fortunate to have a job where I see lots of people doing lots of amazing things (occasionally the reverse too) but a project that I visited whilst in Austin Texas as part of the US Embassy’s International Visitor Leadership Programme last week has got to be up there with one of the best

Wales must have full borrowing powers from Westminster to build a green recovery, says the Future Generations Commissioner.

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.

The international community faces huge challenges of climate change and dwindling resources. The Well-being of Future Generations Act (Wales) argues that if we hope to tackle those big questions, engaging in a sustainable way with local policy will be critical. I want to shine a light on how some of those local and global policy challenges link together through the lens of community transport.

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 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 links between tackling our housing crisis and the nation's health are growing.

More than two thirds of the public want the Government to consider future generations in policy-making – according to new research - and the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales is backing a campaign for a UK-wide law that protects tomorrow from the actions of today.

Sometimes when we talk about housing, we get very caught up in the technicalities, the regulations, planning and specifics, that we forget that we're really talking about is home.

Stories about climate events are becoming more common across our news channels. Floods, migration, crop failures, public health – the impact of climate change is wide and varied. Perhaps this incremental increase in climate change activity will lead to more coverage where environmental stories compete for air time on our radio and tv news outlets and in newspaper columns.

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.

As part of our series of blogs in response to the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales’ new strategy, Cymru Can, Eleri Williams from Building Communities Trust, explores the link between community resilience and inequality. Here, she looks at what can be done to ensure that Cymru Can achieve well-being for people now, and generations yet to be born, no matter where they live in Cymru.

The voices of some of Wales’ most under-represented communities have been put at the heart of a new way to create climate and nature emergency policy to benefit future generations.

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.

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.

The Future Generations Commissioner for Wales has called on the Welsh Government to launch a shorter working week trial.

My wife and I drove UP to the Farm Shop for breakfast in Cross Hands- half the charge had gone-will we be able to get home.... What have I done?

Almost a quarter of people are living in poverty in Wales, only 1% of apprenticeships in Wales are filled by disabled people and future working trends suggest that 65% of jobs at risk of becoming automated are those done by women.

In response to Cardiff Council's Transport Green Paper, published Wednesday, 21 March and the start of a city-wide conversation on big ideas that could shape the future of Cardiff's transport system.

The Well-being of Future Generations Act requires a new way of thinking about how our public services are delivered in Wales. Public Bodies must work in a way that improves the economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being of Wales.

The Future Generations Commissioner for Wales has welcomed plans to improve public transport to reduce traffic on the M4- but says more needs to be done to retain the numbers of people working remotely.

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.

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.

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.

Cymru Can: Here's why we think it will... Rob Ashelford, Head of Nesta Cymru, on why 2024 might be the year Wales shifts towards real change that benefits people now and protects the future.

Previous research has suggested that spending time outdoors in natural environments, such as parks and beaches, can help support and promote good mental health and wellbeing. 

Having spent over 40 years as a local government planner, I am now a planning director in my own consultancy practice.

As we celebrated our National Patron Saint’s Day last week, we were reminded of our country’s strong cultural identity and affinity with the arts

Should robots speak Welsh?

“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."

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.

In collaboration with Literature Wales, the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales is proud to announce it is looking for a Future Generations Resident Poet; a new and exciting opportunity for an emerging poet in Wales to bring the Act to life.

Resources that can help you think in the longer-term and act today for a better tomorrow.

Alternative models for improving health and well-being is one of the priority areas for the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales.

Wales’ Well-being of Future Generations Act is a law that puts a duty on Welsh Government to protect the interests of future generations while meeting the challenges of today - the law requires the Government to set milestones they are seeking to achieve on their way to meeting each of Wales’ seven well-being goals.

Our younger generations are calling out the failures of past decisions, and sadly, often decisions in the continuing present that fail to take into account their futures – embarrassing, perhaps, but necessary.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

With £1bn of Pension Funds investment in Wales being spent on fossil fuel based companies, the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales calls on Local Authorities to demonstrate how climate risk is being incorporated into their current and future fund's investment strategy.

A key part of the Well-being of Future Generations Act established Public Services Boards (PSBs) to make sure that local organisations work together to improve the well-being of their area for current and future generations.

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.

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.

Gydag £1bn o fuddsoddiadau Cronfeydd Pensiwn yng Nghymru’n cael ei wario ar gwmnïau sy’n seiliedig ar ynni ffosil, mae Comisiynydd Cenedlaethau’r Dyfodol Cymru yn galw ar Awdurdodau Lleol i ddangos sut mae risg yn sgil yr hinsawdd yn cael ei ymgorffori yn strategaeth fuddsoddi eu cronfeydd yn y presennol a’r dyfodol. 


Wales could be the test ground for a pioneering initiative to give citizens a basic income from the government and a shorter working week.

Embedding public value within the heart of the activities of Cardiff Business School, is a unique feature of the school.  

Useful resources that we have worked on, contributed to, or identified as useful.

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

Climate change is the greatest threat facing future generations. On 29 April 2019 Welsh Government declared a climate emergency, shortly after publishing their plan “Low Carbon Wales” which contains 100 policies and proposal but not detail on how these will be funded.

“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."

The Future Generations Commissioner is calling for a Creative Universal Basic Income to pay artists a basic living allowance and help Wales recover from the pandemic

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.

“Today’s announcement is an important step forward for care-leavers, and although this is not a full Universal Basic Income, I welcome the Welsh Government’s commitment to this trial.

“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."

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?

Over the last few months, we have been collecting good case studies of how the Act is being implemented on the ground across Wales.

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 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.

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.

Following today’s announcement by the Welsh Government of a climate emergency, Sophie Howe, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales said: