Unethical practices continue to pervade migrant worker recruitment. There are risks that these will be exacerbated as workers’ lives become affected by a deepening climate crisis and worsening inequalities. Whose responsibility is it to pay attention to this impending risk? Forum for the Future’s Sangam Paudel and Madhu Ardhanari explore where accountability lies in the migrant worker recruitment system. Read more
How can businesses stay resilient, thrive, and contribute to transformation in a world hit by climate disruption? While many businesses in India are facing climate threats and are taking action on climate challenges, there is still a need to go beyond immediate risk management to take a systemic approach. Read more
Business is changing, and procurement is emerging as a secret weapon. Forum's Principal Change Designer, Felicity Butler, discusses the need to rethink procurement processes and buying strategies that are primarily focused on cost-savings and risk mitigation. What’s our alternative and how can we get there? Read more
Here, Forum’s Global Strategic Lead for Business, James Payne, hones in on the opportunity for businesses in transition, highlighting four key unlocks: visionary leadership, rethinking supply chains, reimagining consumption and creating an enabling context. Read more
With the dual crisis of climate and health intensifying every single day, it is critical for medical leadership to step up and play a catalytic role. Dr Emma Iovoli, Life Sciences Consultant – Climate and health, recommends ways in which medical leaders can contribute and drive co-benefits for climate and health within their organisations. Read more
India faces an urgent need to ensure food and nutrition security for a growing population, while also securing sustainable livelihoods and responding to urgent climate needs. However, these different and urgent needs can often compete with or crowd out each other. Here, Forum's Principal Strategist Hansika Singh makes the case for systems thinking to achieve food security resilient food systems in India. Read more
Jonathon Porritt, one of the co-founders of Forum for the Future, steps down after almost 30 years with the international sustainability non-profit. Here, he reflects on those three decades, and why we need to start thinking very differently about the role of business in accelerating the transition to a just and sustainable world. Read more
On International Women's Day, we are recognising and celebrating the women who inspire us. At Forum for the Future, we asked our colleagues to share messages of appreciation for prolific women in their lives in our exclusive #WomenWhoRock series. From personal heroes to global icons, the stories they share demonstrate the profound impact that women have on our lives and the world around us. In this blog, we highlight some of these inspiring women and their achievements. Read more
Microfibre shed from textiles constitutes an estimated 35 percent of all plastics in our oceans. While there are consumer solutions that reduce the amount of microfibre shedding, how can we look upstream at the manufacturing process to truly tackle the problem from end-to-end? Here, Forum’s Senior Strategist Karen Sim sheds light on how the fashion industry can overcome its systemic barriers and transform to a fairer, more equitable one. Read more
Forum for the Future’s new 2023-2025 strategy, For a just and regenerative future, calls on us all to ‘go further and act faster’ if we’re to tackle our intensifying social, environmental and economic challenges. But we need to be clear on what that means. Forum’s CEO, Dr Sally Uren, explores what taking systemic, urgent action really looks like. Read more
As the Cotton 2040 initiative draws to a close in 2023, Forum’s Principal Programme Manager Hannah Cunneen, Principal Sustainability Strategist Yamini Srivastava, and Change Strategist Bhairevi Aiyer reflect on the key takeaways from Cotton 2040’s Masterclass series, co-hosted with our technical partners WTW Climate Resilience Hub. Read more
With health impacts of the climate crisis being felt worldwide, there is a growing call for the private sector to step up. In this blog, Forum’s International Managing Director, Hannah Pathak explores how the private sector can transform its products, services and practices to address this complex dual challenge of climate and health. Read more
Written by Laura Winn, Head of the School of System Change, and Charlene Collison, Forum's Associate Director of Sustainable Value Chains and Livelihoods, this blog contains quotes from participants on the School of System Change in Finance. Read more
Written by Caroline Ashley, Forum's Global Programmes Director, this blog draws on conversations with actors in and beyond finance, and on this new Forum paper on the Role of Finance in systems change. Read more
Written by Caroline Ashley, Global Programmes Director, Forum for the Future and Emilie Goodall, Affiliate, Forum for the Future, this blog draws on conversations with actors in and beyond finance, and on a new Forum paper on the Role of Finance in systems change. Read more
Forum's Associate Director of Sustainable Value Chains and Livelihoods, Charlene Collison, looks at how companies can improve the resilience of their value chains in preparation for an increasingly volatile climate. Read more
As the doors close on COP27, many are wondering whether it will make any difference in light of the escalating social and environmental challenges we face. For many, it is little more than an extravagant talk shop; for others, it’s a once-a-year opportunity to galvanise action. Having attended Sharm El Sheikh as an NGO Observer and to launch new private sector guidance on how to simultaneously tackle climate and health issues, Forum’s Chief Executive, Dr Sally Uren, shares her reflections - good Read more
Written by Caroline Ashley, Global Programmes Director, Forum for the Future and Emilie Goodall, Affiliate, Forum for the Future, this blog draws on conversations with actors in and beyond finance, and on this new Forum paper on the Role of Finance in systems change. Read more
After nearly seven years of convening actors across the cotton sector to align on issues critical for the industry’s future, the Cotton 2040 initiative is coming to a close. Here, Charlene Collison, Associate Director at Forum for the Future and director of Cotton 2040 reflects on how the sector has changed, and its readiness for the future. Read more
Prior to the U.S. midterm elections, Forum's Director - Americas, Sandra Seru, discusses how polarization and disinformation have affected the sustainability movement and created barriers to climate action. Sandra emphasizes the need to come together as a sustainability field to address polarization and create a united front against climate change. Read more
With the link between climate change and human health becoming increasingly clear, there is a unique opportunity for the private sector to tackle this complex dual challenge with integrated approaches. Here, Forum's Chief Executive Dr Sally Uren sets the context and explores upcoming guidance from the Climate and Health Coalition, which - with a focus on food, technology, healthcare and the built environment - is set to provide specific recommendations for action and enable the private sector to Read more
Following on from our Cotton 2040 blog series, here, programme facilitators Neil Walker from Forum for the Future and Nicola Thornley from Anthesis reflect on what we’ve achieved in the initiative in building uptake of sustainable cotton with 11 brands and retailers, and identify opportunities for growth. Read more
Cotton is one of the world’s leading commodities and its production can be associated with significant social, environmental and economic impacts. On World Cotton Day, five years since the inception of the Cotton 2040 initiative, programme facilitators Neil Walker from Forum for the Future and Nicola Thornley from Anthesis reflect on what we have achieved and learned through the initiative in building uptake of sustainable cotton with 11 brands and retailers. Read more
Forum’s Managing Director (Asia), Ariel Muller, reflects on our focus on addressing deep transformation versus shallow transitions, what we’ve learnt about enabling transformation in Asia, and how our programmes will deliver to these aims. Read more
Hannah Pathak, Forum for the Future’s Director of UK/Europe considers the latest sustainability trends and questions rippling across the UK and Europe, and explores the implications of Forum’s new 2023-2025 strategy for our work on food, energy and the role of business. Read more
Six years on and in line with Forum’s new 2023-2025 strategy, the School has now evolved, and will be operating in partnership with Forum. With more independence, the School is primed to flourish in pursuit of a world where people embrace complexity and address the challenges of our time through new ways of thinking, acting and being. Read more
Forum for the Future’s recently announced 2023-2025 strategy outlines our focus on enabling deep transformation in how we think about, produce, consume and value both food and energy, and the role of business in society and the economy. Here, Forum’s Director - Americas, Sandra Seru, reflects on current progress in the U.S. and outlines five ways in which sustainability professionals can work towards deep transformation. Read more
Right now, the sustainability movement faces a choice: to continue driving ‘shallow transitions’ or to start laying the foundations for the ‘deep transformation’ that’s long overdue. Forum’s Director of Global Programmes, Caroline Ashley, explores the difference between shallow and deep change. Read more
As Forum for the Future announces its new 2023-2025 strategy, For a just and regenerative future, Chief Executive Dr Sally Uren sets the context by exploring where the sustainability movement has made progress and where it’s fallen short. Recognising the crossroads the world stands at right now and the transitions already in play, Sally outlines Forum’s focus on enabling deep transformation over shallow, incremental gains, and how we will hone in on food, energy and business. Read more
Fashion brands and standardised measurements of their sustainability have come under greater scrutiny for inaccuracy and greenwashing. What can the fashion industry do as it seeks to become more sustainable? Karen Sim, Senior Sustainability Strategist at Forum, calls out for the inclusion of the ‘opaque middle’ to lead change in the fashion industry: manufacturers. Read more