COP26 blog series: summing up

Over the last two weeks, the Intergenerational Foundation has published a series of blogs connected by demands of, or reflections on, the COP26 UN Climate conference, and the issues raised by its announcements. In this blog, IF’s Digital Campaigns Officer Liam Hill sums up the different authors’ contributions to our blog series. The most vital… Read more »

COP26: how youth voice can generate sustainable public policy in a time of crisis

Professor of Politics at Royal Holloway James Sloam argues that the failure to encourage youth participation in the policy-making process marks a key failure of both COP26 and public policy in general. It has failed younger generations, and led to reactive and unsustainable policy towards climate change and a whole host of related issues. Youth… Read more »

COP26: Degrowth as a solution to the climate crisis

John Hobby, IF Researcher, looks at why GDP is an imperfect measure of human wellbeing and how changing how we think about growth could help us improve global living standards while reducing environmental degradation. Green Growth has become the established theoretical and policy response to tackling climate change and ecological breakdown, with talk of a… Read more »

​​COP26: progress on forest protection for future generations

Intergenerational Foundation Co-Founder, Angus Hanton, assesses the agreement between national leaders concerning forest protection and recovery at COP26 on Tuesday last week. Will their agreement be enough to protect “the lungs of the Earth”? What more can and should be done to protect forests and rainforests for the sake of young people and future generations?… Read more »

Britain’s COP26: leading the way, leading the world – will it be enough?

The Conservative Environmental Network’s Kitty Thompson assesses the UK’s role as a host of COP26 and its efforts in tackling climate change on the domestic front, finding reasons to be optimistic about the climate Conference. There is much more to do, and significant international cooperation is required: will COP26 instigate a change for good in… Read more »

COP26: my generation is growing up experiencing climate crisis and inaction

As part of the Intergenerational Foundation’s COP26 blog series, John Paul Jose, a young environmental activist based in India, sets out the potential costs of the climate crisis and calls on polluters and world leaders to step up and show leadership to secure a healthy and sustainable Earth, fit for future generations. Fear for the… Read more »

Introducing our COP26 blog series: demanding change to protect the planet

COP26, the United Nations (UN) Climate Talks have begun. Liz Emerson, IF Co-founder, introduces the Intergenerational Foundation’s blog series surrounding the event and questions whether COP26 can deliver real progress on protecting younger and future generations from the worst effects of man-made climate change. What is COP26? COP26 is an annual UN climate change conference… Read more »

No news is bad news: the government’s lack of ambition and missed opportunities on Net Zero

The UK Government has announced their plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to reach a target of net zero. The most notable initiatives include investments in electrical cars and sustainable aviation, as well as expansion of nuclear programmes. IF Student Intern, Hanna Burt, analyses the plan from an intergenerational fairness perspective. Too little, too late… Read more »

A safe climate is a Human Right – what now?

The United Nations (UN) has declared that access to a sustainable environment is a human right. But as established by IF supporter Alice Bordini-Staden, politicians must take action to ensure that future generations may enjoy this right. IF student intern, Hanna Burt, writes about the suggestions made by Alice and others to combat the intergenerational… Read more »

National Insurance: young people and lower earners hit the hardest

Yesterday, MPs voted to approve raising employees’ National Insurance Contributions (NICs) by 1.25 percentage points, breaking a key manifesto promise not to raise taxes. While the government marketed the rise as “progressive”, in reality it is an intergenerationally unfair tax reform which will affect younger generations the most. Lizzie Simpson, IF Researcher, explains. A regressive… Read more »