Around the world, there is growing interest in how governments and democracies can better reflect the interests of future generations in today’s decisions. The obvious prompt is concern that today’s citizens are leaving a legacy of climate disaster and debt. But how to make this real? What lessons can be learned from recent experiments, like Wales’ Well-being of Future Generations Act and Commissioner? And how to handle the strong counter-pressures, whether to short-termism, the tyranny of the immediate, or the hope that nations can return to past glories? This paper sets out the many steps that are being taken around the world through laws, institutions and new approaches to finance – and suggests options for the future.
