Looking back at IF’s 2021

As the year draws to a close, IF Co-Founder Liz Emerson explains what research, campaigning the Intergenerational Foundation has been working on throughout 2021, and what to look out for in 2022. What has IF done in 2021? IF has responded to 19 government consultation enquiries calling for a more equitable settlement for younger generations… Read more »

A year in review for intergenerational fairness

2021, it seems, will end the same way as it started, with COVID-19 putting the nation on hold, but it is the young who have suffered the most as intergenerational unfairness deepens, writes Liz Emerson, IF Co-founder, in this end-of-year review.  COVID-19 From Delta to Omicron, COVID-19 has delivered a rollercoaster of a year as… Read more »

The social care cap and the intergenerational contract

On 7 September 2021, the government announced reforms to the social care system in order to provide more support to people with fewer financial resources. A recent announcement on 17 November 2021 casts doubt on whether these reforms will be worth the costs borne by younger generations. John Hobby, IF researcher, investigates whether this is… Read more »

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: Global governance vs. individual action. Who is responsible for climate change?

As awareness of the damaging impact of climate change increases, there is a growing agreement that our current ways of life are unsustainable, and to tackle climate change we will need collective behavioural change on a global scale. However, the question is whether this change should come from government policy or from individuals voluntarily changing… 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 »

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 »

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 »

Rise in National Living Wage not enough to help younger people

The government announced a rise in the National Living Wage this week, presenting it as a win for lower-paid working people. Lizzie Simpson, IF Researcher, discusses the details of this rise in the context of inflation and rising costs of living, and questions the merit of the UK’s age-based minimum wage system. Changes to the… Read more »