Intergenerational justice asks a deceptively simple question: what do we owe people who do not yet exist? The question is philosophically difficult — future people cannot advocate for themselves, consent to decisions made on their behalf, or vote in the elections that shape their world. Yet current decisions about debt, climate, biodiversity, and infrastructure will profoundly shape the conditions of lives not yet lived. Democratic short-termism — the structural tendency of political systems to prioritise the immediate over the long-term — creates a systematic bias against future generations. Some countries have experimented with institutional responses: Wales has a Future Generations Commissioner; Hungary has a Parliamentary Commissioner for Future Generations. The underlying philosophical challenge is to take seriously the interests of people whose existence depends on the choices we are making now.

💡 Did you know? New Zealand passed its Well-being Budget in 2019, requiring all government spending to demonstrate how it contributes to long-term wellbeing rather than just short-term economic growth. It is one of the world's most serious attempts to institutionalise intergenerational thinking.