Following an intense process of public engagement, the RSA Citizens’ Economic Council has published its first interim report, setting out emerging findings, and introducing the Citizen's Economic Charter.
Posts By: Linda Geßner
Harnessing democracy and engagement for sustainable prosperity
As environmental crises become ever more severe, calls for authoritarian solutions are reappearing: Democracy, so the argument goes, has proven to be too slow to respond to urgent threats. In this paper, Marit Hammond and Graham Smith respond to this charge by revisiting the role of democracy within a transition to sustainable prosperity.
Decentralised Development Cooperation—the new driver for SDG implementation
Development cooperation isn’t only a matter between national governments anymore, a recent article by Stefano Marta and Aziza Akhmouch from the OECD finds - collaboration proves to be rather successful between local and regional authorities in different countries too. The process known as “decentralized development cooperation” has become a real driver for regional self-determination and active development work – in particular with regards to the SDGs.
Future Generations Commissioners: from Wales to the UK? July Newsletter 2017

The Office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales has recently celebrated its first anniversary. This newsletter edition is dedicated to this important milestone.
One Year On: The View from the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales

Sophie Howe, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, reflects on her first year in office.
One Year On: A View from Civil Society on the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales
The Future Generations Commissioner for Wales was established just over a year ago. We asked Anne Meikle, Head of WWF Cymru, to reflect on this novel institution.
Time to reach beyond the ‘elite’ | Blog by Simon Roberts
Widespread public participation is important not only for working out the best ideas to tackle complex problems or effectively implement change, but also to create agreement for major transitions in society or the economy. Simon Roberts, CEO of the Centre for Sustainable Energy in Bristol wrote this blog earlier in 2017, summarising a longer paper that argues that otherwise populist reactions against the ‘liberal metropolitan elite’ can undermine efforts to reduce carbon emissions.
New study identifies key trends in worldwide climate change litigation
A new global study by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has found that the number of lawsuits involving climate change has tripled since 2014 with most of climate change litigation cases being carried out in the U.S.
Participation and foresight on openDemocracy
The last week of April, FDSD Trustee and Director of the School of International Futures, Cat Tully, was invited to guest edit openDemocracy on the theme “Participation and foresight – putting people at the heart of the future”.
A Future Generations Commissioner for the UK? Watch the video!

On April 11th, FDSD, in collaboration with the the Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD) and the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP), organised an event to discuss the potential to establish a UK-wide Commissioner for Future Generations.