Globally Responsible Prosperous Vibrant Culture Resilient and Thriving WALES AND THE SUSTAINABLE Welsh Language DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2019 Healthier Cohesive Communities More Equal Supplementary Report to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Voluntary National Review of progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 Y Cymru a Garem The Wales We Want Foreword development to be the central organising principle of each The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) organisation. set out an ambitious agenda for transforming the world for people, planet and prosperity. We share this ambition in Wales We established the world’s first statutory independent Future and we are committed to making our contribution to the goals. Generations Commissioner for Wales to be an advocate for the long term and to support decision-makers in Wales. As we look back on progress since the SDGs were agreed in 2015, we should reflect on the actions we took in Wales to We brought together local government with other key players in prepare us for Agenda 2030. statutory partnerships, Public Services Boards, to carry out sustainable development at the local level. In 2015, the National Assembly for Wales made a historic decision to change the course of Wales onto a more We made it clear that sustainable development is about sustainable path by passing the Well-being of Future working differently – for Wales this means looking to the future; Generations (Wales) Act 2015. This reflected the tireless effort integrating the four dimensions of sustainable development; by people from across Wales to strengthen the way in which collaborating to find and deliver more sustainable solutions; Wales’s future is shaped. It reflects Welsh society’s preventing problems from occurring or getting worse; and commitment to a better quality of life for both current and future finding new ways to involve people in the decisions that affect generations. them so that they have ownership of the solution and ownership of the future. We built consensus around a number of shared well-being goals for the future which are integrated and indivisible; these We are doing things differently in Wales. reflect the four dimensions of sustainable development – our economy, our society, our environment, and importantly for But we know that changes to legislation are only as good as the Wales, our language and culture. implementation. Since 2015, the context in which Wales achieves these ambitions has changed significantly but the We engaged and mobilised people across Wales through a framework provided by the Act gives us a strong platform to national conversation on the ‘Wales We Want in 2050’. deal with these complex challenges and uncertainties in a more coherent and sustainable way. We extended our historic obligations to promote sustainable development to 44 public bodies, legislating for sustainable 1 | Wales and the Sustainable Development Goals – Supplementary Report to the UK Voluntary National Review 2019 Since 2015, our sustainable development legislation has some time to come. We recognise that we still have more to do stimulated both action and discussion about how we transform to fully embed the Act within Welsh Government and across the Wales into a more sustainable nation. public sector; working in partnership with civil society, we are committed to delivering on the aspirations in the Act. We hope This Welsh Supplementary Report is our record of progress so this report and our contribution towards the Agenda 2030 for far. It is framed through our seven well-being goals because Sustainable Development can help us measure where we are these both translate the SDGs into the Welsh context, and on this journey, and help highlight where further work is articulate our nation’s contribution to the SDGs. The report is a needed. timely opportunity to reflect on progress in Wales, as we move towards 2020. It will be five years since both the SDGs and our We are grateful to those who attended the Sustainable own well-being goals were agreed and five years since the Development Goals Summits earlier this year, and the Future Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act received royal Generations Commissioner for Wales and members of the assent. Next year we will see the first legally required Future ‘Wales and the Sustainable Development Goals’ working group Generations Report for Wales prepared and published by the that helped shape this supplementary report. independent Future Generations Commissioner for Wales. This will give us an independent view of progress under the Act. Wales is different because sustainable development is the central organising principle that shapes what it does and how it works. This Welsh Government will make decisions in the interests of both current and future generations, and draw on the talents of everyone to enable our nation to flourish. The National Assembly for Wales was the first parliament in the world to declare a climate emergency and the Welsh Government has accepted the Committee on Climate Change recommendation to increase Wales’ emissions reduction target to 95% by 2050. The Welsh Government takes Wales’ global Mark Drakeford AM Jane Hutt AM responsibilities seriously and we are committed to doing everything in our power to meet them. First Minister of Wales Deputy Minister and Chief Whip As we approach the fifth anniversary of the Act, we are seeing significant benefits as a consequence. But culture change takes time and the greatest benefits may not become apparent for 2 | Wales and the Sustainable Development Goals – Supplementary Report to the UK Voluntary National Review 2019 A View from the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales Wales is a small nation with an ambitious vision. Through our The eyes of the world are now on Wales to deliver, and it is true approach to sustainable development, we have showcased our that the effectiveness of our legislation and our approach to commitment to improving the well-being of people and planet meeting the SDGs will be in the changes we see to people’s for future generations. well-being. This Supplementary report to the UK Voluntary National Review We are three years into the implementation of the Act and four is an exciting addition; highlighting the progress Wales has years into the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and it made in meeting the UN SDGs and our very own Well-being of is apparent to me, that ways of working are changing, the Future Generations Act. status quo is being questioned, and business as usual is deemed no longer fit for purpose. My role as Commissioner is to support and challenge public bodies in their implementation of this ground-breaking From the transformational changes – the rewriting of Planning legislation. When the Act was passed, the UN famously said Policy Wales in alignment with our approach to sustainable that ‘what Wales does today, the world will do tomorrow’ – and development, the declaration of a climate emergency, the many corners of the world now look to the example we set here commitment to 100% emissions reduction by 2050, the new in Wales when it comes to sustainability. focus on the foundational economy and the adoption of a definition of prevention across Government to track spending Internationally, our way of doing things is continuing to inspire priorities – to the small but no less significant changes taking and impact change. Our membership of the Network of place across local authorities and national bodies; people in Institutions for Future Generations (NIFG) has been Wales are responding to the challenges for the future, today. instrumental in developing a methodology of sharing best practice between fellow member countries such as Israel, My role as Commissioner is unique and not without its Hungary, Norway, Finland, New Zealand and Canada. challenges. Striking that balance between support and challenge has not always been easy; especially in the first Professor Jonathan Boston from Victoria University, New years. Many are anticipating major changes overnight, but the Zealand, described our legislation as ‘remarkable in terms of its realities are far slower when it comes to reshaping paradigms breadth, its coverage and ambition. There’s nothing quite like it and ways of working that are generations deep. anywhere else in the world at this point. I am enormously impressed with the amount of work the Commissioner’s team It’s fair to say that during my first few years, I haven’t shied has done in a very short space of time.’ away from challenging the Welsh Government and the rest of the public sector when I have felt progress has been too slow or 3 | Wales and the Sustainable Development Goals – Supplementary Report to the UK Voluntary National Review 2019 where old habits and ways of working fail to reflect the way of doing things. We have a long way to go and we have set sustainable development principle. our benchmark high with our ambitious vision, but nothing worth doing was ever easy, and future generations are depending on For example, evidence has shown there is a lack of us. understanding of the goal of ‘a resilient Wales’, with objectives and steps set by public bodies focusing on low carbon energy and transport, instead of supporting healthy functioning ecosystems. Likewise, evidence shows limited understanding of the goal of Sophie Howe ‘a globally responsible Wales’, and many of the objectives set around the ‘prosperous Wales’ goal fail to go beyond Future Generations employment and GDP. The goals of ‘a healthier Wales’ and ‘a Commissioner for Wales more equal Wales’ are generally well understood, but there is still potential for public bodies to think broader and more holistically about all aspects of our economic, environmental, social and cultural well-being. In the coming years I will be focusing my attention on how the Government will redirect resources to address the climate emergency, including: the actions they must take to reverse ecological decline, how we must improve the way we plan, design and build houses and communities and ensure that the infrastructure we rely on is fit for a low-carbon future.