How Wales uses the UN SDGs to support long-term infrastructure planning

In 2015, Wales became the first country in the world to include the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in national legislation.

The Well-being of Future Generations Act helps public bodies create a Wales that people want to live in now and in the future.

Attendees at a recent Enabling Better Infrastructure (EBI) Live event heard from Dr David Club, chair of the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales.

David explained how the act is the baseline for infrastructure planning in Wales.

Inside the Well-being of Future Generations Act

After the introduction of the UN SDGs in 2015, Wales passed the act to incorporate the goals into its national objectives.

The act makes policymakers legally responsible for improving Wales's social, economic, environmental, and cultural wellbeing.

The act includes seven specific goals that public bodies work together to achieve.

1. A prosperous Wales
2. A resilient Wales
3. A healthier Wales
4. A more equal Wales
5. A Wales of cohesive communities
6. A Wales of vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language
7. A globally responsible Wales

To support the act, the government developed five ways of working for public bodies, including Welsh ministers, local authorities, and local health boards.

1. Collaboration – working with a range of stakeholders.
2. Integration – aligning objectives to deliver wellbeing outcomes.
3. Involvement – including stakeholders that represent the diverse voices of the communities served.
4. Long-term – balancing short-term with future needs.
5. Prevention – limiting problems that might hold back public bodies from meeting their objectives.

David explained that incorporating the SDGs into the wellness goals was essential to improving lives in Wales.

The ways of working are fundamental to delivering the wellness goals in practice.

To support their use, the Welsh government developed an online tool to map national measures to the wellbeing goals and the UN SDGs.

Read more: What are the UN Sustainable Development Goals?

Planning infrastructure with sustainability in mind

The goals and ways of working ensure any infrastructure planned and delivered in Wales is benefiting society, culture, the economy, and the environment.

David mentioned how the Future Generations Framework helps public bodies, such as the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales, understand the effectiveness of infrastructure projects.

The framework also helps streamline decision-making with a set of easy-to-implement guidelines for public bodies to apply in practice.

Balancing trade-offs

The SDGs encourage governments to plan better infrastructure now and in the future.

The wellness goals and ways of working have also helped Wales balance trade-offs between short- and long-term planning.

These trade-offs can lead to difficult decisions.

When planning infrastructure, David mentioned it was important to look ahead to 2100. Will the choices Wales make today still help people in 80 years’ time?

Thinking ahead in this way helps understand which difficult decisions are the right ones.

Read more: 3 reasons why planning infrastructure for the future needs collaboration

What are some of the tangible benefits?

Using the wellbeing goals and ways of working has helped unlock a long-term, sustainable approach to infrastructure in Wales.

David shared three examples of how they have influenced decision-making.

M4 relief road

The Welsh government rejected the original proposal and requested that its resubmission include the wellbeing goals.

Any future submission must ensure development is adaptable, resilient, and involves other public bodies to deliver on a shared objective.

The Wales Roads Review

In 2021, the wellbeing goals informed the Wales Roads Review.

The Welsh government aimed to fund and develop roads in a way that reduces traffic, supports active travel, and cuts down Wales’ carbon footprint.

The review factored long-term environmental impacts, such as water quality, flood risk, and biodiversity, into road planning.

Residential speed limits

In 2023, the Welsh government implemented a 20-mile-per-hour speed limit for restrictedcertain roads.

Informed by the well-being goals, the government, local authorities, and road bodies targeted roads in residential and built-up areas.

The move aims to support a shift from personal cars to active travel and make urban roads in Wales healthier, safer, and more accessible.

Read more: How the Wales transport strategy will deliver for communities and climate

Lessons for other governments

David outlined three lessons that could help other governments plan long-term, sustainable infrastructure.

1. Benchmarking: speaking to international bodies helped the Welsh government see how other countries incorporate wellbeing into their infrastructure policies and plans.
2. A clear national vision: a clear national infrastructure plan leaves no room for ambiguity for public bodies planning and delivering infrastructure.
3. Understanding priorities: understanding the country’s most pressing infrastructure needs, and roles and responsibilities for delivering them.

Find out more: the EBI programme and its eight guiding principles