Public sector organisations are vital players in the creation of a sustainable future.  Forum for the Future’s guide, Stepping Up, sets out how these organisations can create better services for their citizens and customers by taking a sustainable approach - the public value case for sustainable development.

Fashion Futures is a call for a sustainable fashion industry. It’s designed to help organisations in all sectors take action which will safeguard their future, protect our environment and improve the lives of their customers, workers and suppliers around the world.

 

Paint the Town Green sets out the results of a research project which studied the entire lifecycle of paint - from raw materials through manufacturing to use and disposal - to find ways to make it more sustainable,  in a three-year collaboration with ICI Paints AkzoNobel, a manufacturer and supplier, and construction group Carillion, a major user of paint.

Forum for the Future is the independent reviewer of ClimateWise, an insurance industry initiative designed to reduce the risks of climate change.

Members commit to take climate change into account throughout their operations. By assessing the risk it poses to individual companies and accurately pricing it the industry seeks to drive change throughout the economy.

Forum for the Future’s annual Sustainable Cities Index tracks progress on sustainability in Britain’s 20 largest cities - highlighting their environmental performance, quality of life and their readiness for the challenges of the future.

Find out about the Forum's full range of services.

The Tourism 2023 project sets out to help the UK outbound travel and tourism industry understand the challenges it faces and plan for a sustainable future.

Fit for the Future looks at the role the NHS should play in tackling climate change, and sets out four scenarios for the healthcare system in England in 2030, making recommendations to guide development of the NHS.

Sustainability Trends in European Retail reports on what retailers are doing to address the big environmental and social challenges of our time and how they are aiming to derive financial value from these activities. The work was sponsored by manufacturing and distributing company Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd, based in the UK.

Rethinking Capital takes up some of these themes in Jonathon Porritt's Living within our Means and sets out to build a platform for action, by outlining some of the work done by Forum for the Future and others on how to create sustainable financial markets.

The public sector faces some serious pressures over the coming years. Anyone who reads the papers will know that the public debt we are accumulating because of the economic downturn is likely to lead to very deep cuts further down the line. After a decade where lots of money was pumped into public services, the tap will be turned off. 

The Forest Investment Review was commissioned by the UK's Department of International Development (DFID) and Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to explore how best to stimulate private sector investment alongside public money to reduce deforestation in the developing world.

A look back over 2008, including details of the ten projects we're most proud of, details of our partners and associates, and our financial statement for the year ending 31 December of that year.

A low-carbon vision for the West Midlands in 2020 is an aspirational look at how the region might operate in the future, taking into account factors like energy supply and how we will live, work and travel.

The global economic crisis and accelerating climate change stem from the same causes and give warning of a “perfect storm” unless politicians act to transform capitalism, Jonathon Porritt warns in his new pamphlet launched on 21st March.

What is a sustainable school building?  Where in England have they been made a reality and how have head teachers gone about it?  What leadership skills and practical knowledge do school leaders need?  These are some of the questions addressed by Leading sustainable school building projects. 

 

This paper is the result of discussions and
collaboration between the UK Department for
International Development (DFID), Barclays, HSBC
and Forum for the Future.

This paper is an output from an informal Financial
Sector Task Force on Climate Change Adaptation
which has been established by DFID together with
representatives of the financial services sector. The
objective of the Task Force is to encourage debate
around the potential roles of the private sector in helping to address the physical risks of climate
change in developing countries.

Business leaders must see sustainability as an opportunity to ensure a secure future, despite the recession. So finds Acting now for a positive 2018, a report produced in association with business consultancy Capgemini.

ClimateWise is the first time a group of insurance companies (representing 60% of the general UK insurance sector) have signed up to a programme designed to put the industry at the forefront of the response to climate change. This report reviews their progress over the past year.

Given the current economic crisis, the ability of companies and countries to be competitive has never been more important. Competitiveness and Sustainability: building the best future for your business examines how sustainability can increase that competitiveness in today's marketplace.

 

 

Forum for the Future's second annual Sustainable Cities Index tracks progress on sustainability in Britain’s 20 largest cities, ranking them on environmental performance, quality of life and future-proofing – how well they are addressing issues such as climate change, recycling and biodiversity

Climate Futures analyses the social, political, economic and psychological consequences of climate change and describes how different global responses to the problem could lead to five very different worlds by 2030.
 
Climate Futures was developed in collaboration with researchers from HP Labs

A future where tourism benefits local economies and respects the environment is not only possible, it makes good business sense. So what does a sustainable tourism resort look like? Our report Paradise Found gives the answer.

Supermarkets and other major retailers are pressing ahead with green business practices despite the threat of recession. Efficiency savings, consumer pressure for greener goods and the rising cost of oil and other resources are all reasons why it makes good business sense to put sustainability at the heart of creating value, according to Retail Leadership.

Orchards’ value to their local community is far higher than the profits from their fruit. Windfall – putting a value on the social and environmental importance of orchards demonstrates that the environmental, social and economic issues around orchards are at least twice as valuable to stakeholders as the traditional bottom line.

 

Our latest Annual Report looks back on our 2007 achievements, from our work helping top supermarkets launch their sustainability programmes to our provocative study of the future of retail.

Carbon labelling is often touted as a way of enabling consumers to shop sustainably. But is trialling carbon labels just a PR exercise or can communicating the climate change impacts of everyday products to consumers genuinely drive consumer behaviour for the better?

The voluntary carbon market – where institutions and individuals can buy carbon reductions, usually to offset their own carbon emissions – is experiencing rapid growth. But as actvity has increased, concerns have been expressed that the voluntary carbon market is a distraction and, worse, that it undermines the need for fundamental change in corporate and individual behaviour.

As concerns about climate change grow, the concept of 'carbon neutrality' has captured the corporate imagination. From a few companies declaring their intention to go carbon neutral in 2003 and 2004, the idea has snowballed, with many companies now making such claims. But what does it mean to claim that your company is ‘carbon neutral’? A new report published today investigates some of the claims that have been made so far, and makes recommendations for organisations planning to become truly carbon neutral.

Transport accounts for nearly 22 per cent of the UK’s total carbon emissions. Recent developments have seen the introduction of new technology and fuels. However, the simplest most cost-effective, immediate way of making a dent in emissions is to change driving behaviour. By adopting ecodriving techniques, motorists can achieve significant carbon savings and reduce the carbon footprint of each motor vehicle journey.

There’s a new breed of companies leading the way in doing business more sustainably – we call them leader businesses. While yesterday’s leaders worked hard on understanding reputational, resource and regulatory risks arising from the vast number of issues related to sustainability, today’s leaders see sustainability as a positive opportunity. It’s a way to build new markets, reach new groups of customers and ensure a long-lasting
competitive edge.

This business briefing is intended to help managers in consumer-facing customers to communicate the environmental credentials of their products honestly and convincingly. We examine why businesses are increasingly using environmental messaging on products, how different formats - such as eco-labels - have developed and the risks and challenges associated with making environmental claims.

With the 26 million homes in the UK producing 27% of the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions, we need to get serious about our housing. This two-part report proposes what can be done within the West Midlands to stimulate change at a local and regional level, and presents the huge opportunities for the private sector.

Connected outlines the potential of the ICT sector to help deliver a sustainable future.

This report shows how tools including back-casting and streamlined lifecycle assessment can be combined to ensure organisations are meeting their environmental responsibilities and using sustainability thinking as a source of innovation, differentiation and access to new markets.

With an annual procurement budget of around £160 billion, the public sector is the largest purchaser in the UK. The report Buying A Better World explains the importance of incorporating sustainability thinking into buying decisions, and includes case studies and action planning tips for busy procurement officers.

What do applicants to universities and colleges in the UK in 2007 think about the future? Where do they expect their happiness to come from? What do they think the world will be like when they are mid-career? What are the big challenges facing humanity, and who do they expect action from?
Following the success of the first Future Leaders Survey in 2006/07, we asked every applicant to higher education in the UK in 2007 to set out their views on these and a range of questions. More than 25,000 of them responded. This report summarises what they told us.

This research looks at companies that are rising to the challenge of sustainability - and boosting their profits in the process. We provide a comprehensive model of their business strategies and key approaches, and show how your business can benefit too.

New research from Ashridge Business School, sponsored by Co-operative Financial Services and supported by Forum for the Future explores the UK consumer market for ethical financial products.

This London Accord report warns investors to think more widely about the social and environmental impacts of their clean energy investments.

In September 2007 Forum started work on a very exciting and ambitious project to help make the greater Bristol areas the most sustainable city region in the UK.

Forum for the Future has been working with The Guardian to produce The Green List

How do UK cities really measure up? Our report uses current data to determine who’s sustainable and who’s not. In it, each of the UK’s 20 largest cities are analysed according to three criteria – their ‘environmental impact', ‘quality of life’ and ‘future proofing’ – and given an overall ranking which summarises the results.

This report was written with the support of Vodafone and looks at opportunities to reduce the environmental impacts of mobile phones in developing countries at the end of their lives.

Is retail ready to lead a green revolution? Our report has some food for thought...

Retail Futures offers a glimpse of what the retail experience of 2022 might involve. Through four radically different and detailed scenarios, Retail Futures 2022 explores many of the issues the retail sector will have to face in the years to come.

Taken together, the four scenarios provide valuable tools to help the retail sector develop robust, future-proof strategies that will deliver more sustainable retail in a time of radical change.

This handy little booklet sets out what we mean by innovation and how we help businesses develop new products and services.

Our latest Annual Report shows the progress we've made in four key areas: inspiring and challenging organisations with positive visions of a sustainable future, delivering innovative and practical ways to help realise those visions, training leaders to bring about change, and sharing success through our communications.

Microfinance used to be known as a basic banking model for villages in the developing world, a universe away from the fast moving capital markets, private equity funds and giant banking and insurance groups that make up the dynamic modern financial sector. But the two worlds are now starting to converge.

Fashioning Sustainability it the first port of call for anyone who wants to find out about the social and environmental impacts of the clothing industry. It covers UK consumption and global production.

These Masterclasses focus on the role of business leaders
in mainstreaming sustainable development within an
organisation. Jonathon Porritt will guide you through the key
issues – providing provocation, insight and experience in
equal measure.

This White Paper, commissioned by RWE npower, comes on the back of new research which revealed that many businesses are confused by what the Low Carbon Economy is. It is one of the first reports published on the Low Carbon Economy in the UK and provides an overview of the impact of human behaviour on climate change, and the necessity of making the transition to a Low Carbon Economy to avoid dangerous climate change.

We face a resource-constrained future in which societies across the world will grapple with accelerating global consumption, growing population and climate change.

Forum for the Future and UCAS (University and Colleges Admissions Service) invited students aged 21 and under, resident in the UK and applying to universities and colleges in 2006, to complete a survey.

New value added mobile services have the potential to increase the positive social and economic role of mobile phones. Person to person airtime transfer is one such service, allowing mobile subscribers to send and receive airtime for a small fee.

This report is intended as a first port of call for anyone wanting to know about the environmental impacts of the mobile telecoms sector. It is a comprehensive overview rather than a detailed analysis, but will point you in the direction of more in-depth information.

Transport policy-makers in the UK are not using information and communication technologies (ICT) strategically in transport policy - so says this report from Forum for the Future.

This report tells you all about the Calor Village of the Year Award winner – in 2016. The fictional winning village, Little Greenham, has a population of 2,500 and has been selected for the great strides it has made in embedding sustainability in all aspects of village life.

Riots on the street, polluted drinking water and mass fish deaths? Or a source of carbon free energy, enabling the EU to meet its Kyoto targets whilst powering our homes and business? These are two of three scenarios developed through the nanologue project, an 18-month EU project looking at the social, ethical and legal implications of nanotechnology.

The OpenStrategy® is a new, web-based product aimed at enabling communities to plan and deliver policy in a more democratic, effective and transparent way. We were asked by the North West Regional Assembly to evaluate the use of OpenStrategy in developing a sustainable procurement strategy for the north west. Our report assesses the effectiveness of the OpenStrategy approach when it comes to formulating regional policy.

The West of England sub-region faces severe transport-related challenges such as congestion, poor air quality, rising carbon emissions and poor infrastructure. Access West looks at these challenges through a sustainability lens and makes the case for a new, system-wide strategy for sustainable mobility across the sub-region.

Britain’s rural estates are experiencing a renaissance of innovation and entrepreneurship, which is helping to regenerate rural communities, says this report from Forum for the Future.

This report recognises ten years of Forum for the Future. It summarises our landmark achievements to date and looks forward to the next ten years. It also provides details of our work between January-December 2005 and outlines details of our finances over that period.

This fundraising brochure is for people who might like to make donations to Forum for the Future. It explains about our work, and encourages individuals to support us by becoming part of the 'future funders network.'

Leader businesses are increasingly turning to sustainable development as a source of inspiration, innovation and access to new markets.

Jamie Wallace and Vedant Walia analyse the risks and opportunities for the UK's rail sector in meeting the challenge of sustainable development, building on our partnership with the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB).

Can the success of the Mass Balance tool in measuring and reporting complex resource use be replicated for organisations? This report shows how organisations – using the examples of universities and farms – can use the mass balance approach to streamline their resources and save money.

Resource scarcity will cause economic problems in the UK and affect the quality of our lives. So claims a new report that calls for action in managing our resources by measuring their flow through our economy.

Forum for the Future’s South West Land Use Initiative worked with a broad range of organisations and local stakeholders in the South West to develop an asset-based sustainability appraisal tool in order to find out why some area-based projects and initiatives are more successful than others at increasing local sustainability and quality of life. This is one of five case studies produced following the trial use of the tool on five very different kinds of area, working directly with local project partnerships and organisations.

Stephanie Draper, Deputy Director, Forum for the Future Business Programme, assesses the implications of the new strategy launched by Tony Blair on 7 March 2005 for the business community

A top-performing region needs to get the direction, content and delivery of its activities right. Good regional policy should be about long-term thinking that fosters innovative economic, social and environmental benefits in an integrated way – genuinely sustainable development. We believe that this is the only framework within which successful regional policy can be developed and delivered.

If economics causes an item to be inaccurately priced, it hides the surrounding implications of its production in darkness and misleads us as to its true worth. This article discusses this issue in more depth, asks why it is happening, explains why this matters, and suggests what could be done about it.

This guidance explores how to integrate sustainability literacy into the provision of all higher education courses and provides a toolkit to guide you.

The report, 'London Principles - Three years on from Johannesburg', reviews the progress that's been made on the London Principles project, launched by Tony Blair at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002.

This report examines area-based initiatives in the South West that point towards ways of reaping the full rewards of more sustainable land use and resource management.

An introduction to Forum for the Future’s approach to accounting.  We anchor sustainability performance in quantitative data that goes far beyond simple indicators. By converting environmental and social benefits and costs into monetised values, we allow you to account for these impacts in a way which is consistent with other business activities. This process provides the basis for analysis and recommendations to improve performance.

Forum for the Future’s South West Land Use Initiative worked with a broad range of organisations and local stakeholders in the South West to develop an asset-based sustainability appraisal tool in order to find out why some area-based projects and initiatives are more successful than others at increasing local sustainability and quality of life. This is one of five case studies produced following the trial use of the tool on five very different kinds of area, working directly with local project partnerships and organisations.

Capture of wild fish for human consumption soared in the last century, from 20 million tonnes in 1960 to almost 95 million tonnes in 2000, leading to serious and widespread overfishing. The crisis in our seas is a clear case of the human species coming up against natural limits to growth.

Find out how we work with partners, including the Welsh Assembly Government and Unilever. We describe our work for social equity, and the application of science to the largest PFI project in the UK, Barts and The London Hospital.

The environmental case for recycling and refurbishing old mobile phones has long been accepted. A new report by Forum for the Future now makes the social case for reburbished mobile phones, arguing that they lower the barrier to entry for people in less developed countries to get access to mobile services

The Vision addresses the challenges facing the industry in UK - the globalisation of markets and production; the increasing shift in developed countries from bulk to specialty chemicals; increasing societal mistrust of chemicals; and a growing awareness of the resource limitations of our planet - and outlines how a proactive approach to sustainability can help secure its ongoing prosperity.

Forum for the Future’s South West Land Use Initiative worked with a broad range of organisations and local stakeholders in the South West to develop an asset-based sustainability appraisal tool in order to find out why some area-based projects and initiatives are more successful than others at increasing local sustainability and quality of life. This is one of five case studies produced following the trial use of the tool on five very different kinds of area, working directly with local project partnerships and organisations.

Whilst perhaps not immediately apparent, ICT can be used to facilitate and even help move towards a more sustainable society. The potential synergies range from simply using ICT to communicate sustainable development, to the potential of teleworking to cut down on car emissions more pervasive.

Can a route map be developed to help the farming industry make the transition towards more sustainable land use management? This report details the findings from the Forum Farm Network, ten farms which underwent sustainability reviews from 2002 to 2004.

In a joint report, the Shell Foundation and Forum for the Future stress the value of the small and medium sized enterprise sector for economic stability. It provides jobs and income for half the population in developing countries and contributes to around two thirds of national income, as well as strengthening communities and reducing poverty.

This report examines the potential environmental benefits of teleworking. Telework - working at home or on the move using networked computers - is on the increase in the UK. Over two million of us did it in 2002, twice the number in 1997. But we are still a long way behind countries like Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands where up to 17 per cent of the workforce teleworks.

Forum for the Future’s South West Land Use Initiative worked with a broad range of organisations and local stakeholders in the South West to develop an asset-based sustainability appraisal tool in order to find out why some area-based projects and initiatives are more successful than others at increasing local sustainability and quality of life. This is one of five case studies produced following the trial use of the tool on five very different kinds of area, working directly with local project partnerships and organisations.

Closer working with the County archaeology team resulted from the appraisal, with the development of shared management plans for different heathland sites. The appraisal also helped to highlight the value of employing local wardens on the urban fringe heaths and the potential of using the heathlands for improving local health and well-being by working closely with the Primary Care Trust.

For more information about the project, please visit www.english-nature.org.uk/thh/

 

 

What sort of environment will we be living in in 15 years' time? You don't have to look very hard to find a welter of depressing predictions of accelerating climate change, biodiversity loss, ozone depletion, soil erosion or water stress. But there are chinks of light on the horizon too.

One of those chinks of light is what can be done with our increasingly powerful technology, if it is used in the right way, to avert some of the more extreme scenarios.

Back in 2003, the Institute for Prospective Technology Studies, a part of the European Commission, gathered a consortium of institutions that included Forum for the Future, to ask how developments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) might influence various environmental indicators.

The project consortium developed an innovative methodology blending exhaustive desk research, qualitative scenario building and quantitative modelling using a Systems Dynamics approach, to answer this question. The findings challenge assumptions that ICT will be a marginal factor in managing environmental change.

For more information please contact business@forumforthefuture.org.uk

 

The latest research conducted by Regional Futures, reveals that Regional Spatial Strategies (RSSs) offer a real opportunity to deliver sustainable development and they need to grasp this opportunity by having a coherent vision, being clear about the role of the spatial strategy in the region, encouraging wide participation in its development, and developing a truly integrated strategy.

Drawing on the learning from the research and event 'Your space or mine - can regional spatial planning deliver sustainable development' event on 1 October 2004, a 10 steps guide to improve spatial planning in the regions has been produced.

10 Steps to improve spatial planning in the regions

For more information please contact publicsector@forumforthefuture.org.uk

A guide to how best to communicate sustainable development.

'Innovation for Sustainable Development' is our first project funded by the Business Futures Fund, supported by our Foundation Corporate Partners.

Forum for the Future’s response to the Government’s consultation on a new strategy is that sustainable development is still viewed as a luxury rather than a necessity. The last three years have seen concerns over security dominate the political agenda, for example, squeezing the space available for serious debate around sustainable development, despite the obvious connections between the two.

The Forum’s response urges the Government to reinvigorate its programme of environmental tax reform. The Government set out a clear goal to shift taxation onto environmental ‘bads’ in its 1997. But new research by Forum for the Future Associate Director Professor Paul Ekins finds that, as a percentage of total taxes, environmental taxes have declined. At the end of the first Labour Government in 2001 environmental taxes as a share of total taxes were lower than in 1997, when the statement was published, and lower even than in 1994.

For more information please contact business@forumforthefuture.org.uk

An 18 month project funded under the DTI program 'Partners in Innovation'.
 
For more information please contact business@forumforthefuture.org.uk

Rather than limiting your creative freedoms, this paper argues that embracing sustainable development agenda provides a world of creative opportunities through concepts such as biomimcry, and shifting from products to services - and highlights a series of cases of where 'creatives' and companies are doing exactly that.

For more information please contact business@forumforthefuture.org.uk

 

Government policy is undermining the UK’s efforts to improve its poor recycling record, argues the Forum’s latest report.

The report, Wasted Opportunities, was written for Tetra Pak – a major producer of liquid food packaging, and a Forum business partner.  It looked at why there are such low levels of recycling of packaging in the UK.

For more information please contact business@forumforthefuture.org.uk

2004

What skills do employers think graduates need to help them achieve sustainable development?  Are there special skills which universities need to be developing in students? Or is it a case of making sure whatever field they're in, UK graduates have a sufficient degree of sustainabiltiy knowledge and skills - ie are sustainability literate?

This report is from a one day workshop run by Forum for the Future. The findings fed into the UK sustainable development strategy which called for all graduates to be sustainabiltiy literate
Discussions with a variety of employers found that there are no such thing as specialist 'sustainabilitiy skills'.  The skills needed to deliver sustainable development are generic, they include critical thinking, strong communication skills, the ability to design a strategic vision, negotiation and consensus building, and conflict resolution.  They the same as those needed to deliver business success, enterprise and excellence in leadership and management, as well as key policy gendas like social inclusion, regeneration. The challenge lies in harnessing these skills to work for a more sustainable way of life.
 
For more information please contact comms@forumforthefuture.org.uk

 

Forum for the Future’s South West Land Use Initiative worked with a broad range of organisations and local stakeholders in the South West to develop an asset-based sustainability appraisal tool in order to find out why some area-based projects and initiatives are more successful than others at increasing local sustainability and quality of life. This is one of five case studies produced following the trial use of the tool on five very different kinds of area, working directly with local project partnerships and organisations.

Following the appraisal the project team have incorporated the appraisal tool into their business planning activities and are considering how best to develop local indicators to monitor progress towards improved area-wide sustainability.

For more information on the project please visit www.rubycountry.com.

For more information about the report please contact publicsector@forumforthefuture.org.uk

The idea for this inquiry grew from a sense that engineers of all ages and backgrounds can significantly contribute to the practical challenges of improving the quality of life for people worldwide. And they can do so in a way that is considerate towards the environment and the community. A mechanism was needed to build a critical mass of 'engineers for sustainability' to become a positive force for change within the profession. What better rallying point than the very engineers who will be moving into leadership roles in the next decade or two?

The Engineer of the 21st Century Inquiry: Engineers for Sustainability
 
For more information please contact comms@forumforthefuture.org.uk.

A review of how ICT is changing society and business and how this will affect the ability of companies to promote more sustainable development.

Digital Europe was a pan-European research project investigating the impacts of Information and Comunication Technology (ICT) on sustainable development, led by Forum for the Future and funded by the European Commission and other private and public sector partners.

For more information please contact business@fourmforthefuture.org.uk

A review of sustainable development policies in Wales and how ICT can contribute.

Digital Europe was a pan-European research project investigating the impacts of Information and Comunication Technology (ICT) on sustainable development, led by Forum for the Future and funded by the European Commission and other private and public sector partners.

For more information please contact business@forumforthefuture.org.uk