In the year after the centenary of the end of the First World War, when we have been looking back at the contribution Wales has made to international peace and justice over the last century, it is also timely to look ahead at the role Wales can play in addressing the challenges of global environmental change and growing inequalities that confront our new century.

With the enactment of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, Wales now has a new and distinctive platform on which civil society and public institutions in Wales can build to contribute to the United Nations’ global agenda of creating a better future for both people and planet. Through our work in Wales and with partners, we have a real opportunity to inform the understanding and development of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

To explore this opportunity, the Learned Society of Wales convened a three-day invited Symposium at Magdalene College, Cambridge on 11-13 September 2018, bringing together leading thinkers and practitioners from Wales and across the world on the theme of the ethics of sustainable prosperity for all.

This paper reflects on these discussions, the nature of the challenges we face, the changes which are needed to address them and the role which Wales might play.