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.
As the world’s first statutory Future Generations Commissioner prepares to come to the end of her seven-year term, Sophie Howe is reflecting on the impacts of the legislation on life in Wales.
The Well-being of Future Generations Act requires decisions in Wales to be made in a way which meets today’s needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own.
Wales became the first country in the world to legislate in the interests of future generations in 2015 – inspiring the UN’s vision for a Special Envoy for Future Generations and other countries from Canada and Ireland to Scotland and Gibraltar.
The Act places a legal responsibility on policy makers in Wales to create inter-connected solutions to improve cultural, social, economic and environmental well-being, via seven national goals, including ambitions for a healthier, more equal, an environmentally-resilient society and a well-being economy. In the legislation, the goal for a ‘prosperous Wales’ does not mention GDP, instead defining growth in terms of ‘an innovative, productive and low-carbon society which recognises the limits of the global environment’, with an emphasis on ‘decent work’.
Ms Howe, a mother-of-five, has led high-profile interventions around transport planning, education reform and climate change, challenging Welsh Government and others to demonstrate how they are taking account of future generations – and she’s reflecting on some of the practical ways people in Wales may have noticed the difference.
Ms Howe said: “There is still a lot more work to be done but if you travel around Wales and talk to people about how decisions are being made, you’ll see the impacts of the Well-being of Future Generations Act, largely due to a movement of change champions using this unique legislation to create a better Wales.
“I’m hugely proud of what’s been achieved in its short life by what I often hear described as ‘common sense’ law– ie, making joined-up decisions, looking at transport through a healthcare lens, asking communities how they want to achieve cleaner air for their children to breathe, at the same time as reducing poverty.
“If every country had a Future Generations Act decades ago, we might not be seeing the devastating effects of the cost of living crisis. We have a long way to go to fully meet the ambitions of the Act but it’s crucial we do. In Wales, there’s a legal framework for planning for the long-term, and public services working in different ways, and it’s needed now more than ever.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
What is the Well-being of Future Generations Act?
Wales’ Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act is a world-leading piece of legislation which puts a legal obligation on public bodies in Wales (including Welsh Government, local councils and health boards) to act today for a better tomorrow via seven interconnected national well-being goals – for a Wales that is prosperous, resilient, healthier, more equal, of cohesive communities, with a vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language, and globally-responsible.
Passed in 2015 in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, the WFG Act is about improving the social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being of Wales. Each public body covered by it must carry out sustainable development – by meeting today’s needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own.
Public bodies should use the five ways of working (long-term, prevention, integration, collaboration, involvement) to meet the ambitions of the Act, by thinking more about the long-term, work better with people and communities and each other, seek to prevent problems like climate change and inequality and take a more joined-up approach.
Wales is the only country in the world to have put the UN’s SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) into statute and in September 2021, Scotland announced it was joining Wales and appointing a Future Generations Commissioner.
UN Special Envoy for Future Generations
In September 2021, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, endorsed a proposal for a special envoy for future generations who will be tasked with representing the interests of those who are expected to be born over the coming century – taking Wales’ future generations approach to the world.
When it was passed into law, Nikhil Seth, then UN Assistant Secretary General, said: ‘What Wales is doing today, the world will do tomorrow.
Who is the Future Generations Commissioner?
Sophie Howe is the first Future Generations Commissioner for Wales. Her role was created in 2016, to act as the ‘guardian’ of future generations, by promoting the sustainable development principle, in particular to act as a guardian of the ability of future generations to meet their needs and encourage public bodies to take greater account of the long-term impact of the things they do.
A mother-of-five who lives in Cardiff, Wales, before this role, Sophie was deputy police and crime commissioner for South Wales, for four years. Sophie has previously worked for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and Equal Opportunities Commission where she led on sex discrimination and equal pay claims. Before that, she became the youngest councillor in Wales at aged 21.
Her TED Countdown talk, Lessons on Leaving the World Better Than You Found It, has been viewed more than 1.7 million times.
Her role will finish in January 2023, before a new commissioner takes up the role.
ENDS