Future Earth International

History

Future Earth International (FEI) was founded in June 2012 at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. By 2015, the FEI network included the International Science Council; the Belmont Forum; the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); the United Nations University (UNU); the World Meteorological Organization (WMO); and the Science and Technology in Society (STS) Forum. ¹

The goal of Future Earth International (FEI) is to promote and help countries achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Policy proposals within the Goals include ending global poverty and world hunger, achieving gender equality, promoting higher levels of education and healthcare, reducing wealth inequality, improving access to clean air and water, and promoting environmentalist technologies to combat climate change. ²

Organizational Structure

Future Earth International’s (FEIs) Global Secretariat Hubs conduct “day-to-day operations” for FEI and are based in Canada, China, France, Japan, India, Sweden, Taiwan, South Africa, and the United States. FEI also has 23 “national, local and regional networks” and 27 “global research networks.” ³

Activity

Earth Commission

The Earth Commission is a network of scientists organized by Future Earth International (FEI) to analyze scientific literature regarding clean technologies incorporated into the development of city infrastructure. ⁴

Pathways for Sustainability Initiative

The Pathways for Sustainability Initiative is a FEI program created to study the implementation of the group’s environmentalist policy recommendations in an “inclusive” manner. ⁵

Inclusivity and Diversity Participation Funding

FEI’s Inclusivity and Diversity Participation Funding provides grants to “Indigenous communities, women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQAI+ community” at the early stages of their research careers. ⁶

Cross-Cutting Initiatives

FEI’s Cross-Cutting Initiatives provides grants to research proposals that, “foster or require collaborations between Future Earth networks and/or facilitate research co-creation and transdisciplinarity.” ⁶

Sustainability Research and Innovation Congress

The Sustainability Research and Innovation Congress is a joint project of FEI and the Belmont Forum that brings together 2,000 scientists to discuss environmentalist research programs. ⁶

PEGASuS

PEGASuS, or the Program for Early-stage Grants Advancing Sustainability Science, provides grants to early-stage researchers focused on environmental research. ⁶

Funding

In 2023, Future Earth International (FEI) received a $900,000 grant distributed over three years from George Soros’ Open Society Foundations.  ⁷

According to its Annual Report for 2023-2024, the FEI has received funding from organizations including Microsoft, the United Nations Environment Programme, the China Association for Science and Technology, the Sorbonne, the KAO Corporation, the Oak Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and George Mason University. FEI also received financial support from the governments of Japan, Finland, India, and Austria. ³

Partners

According to its website, the Future Earth International’s (FEIs) partner organizations include the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPBES, the Group on Earth Observations, the European Space Agency, the Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security, Global Sustainability Scholars, the Belmont Forum, the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, the Mountain Research Initiative, START, the World Climate Research Programme, and the World Meteorological Organization. ⁸