Intergenerational Equity in Climate Governance
Korean Minjok Leadership Academy, 800 Bonghwa-ro, Anheung-myeon, Hoengseong-gun, Gangwon-do, 25264, Republic of Korea
Abstract
This paper examines how the principle of intergenerational equity moves from treaty language to domestic climate policy. It first derives a legal benchmark from the Stockholm Declaration, the UNFCCC, and the Paris Agreement’s preambular reference to intergenerational equity and Article 4.19 on long-term low-emission strategies. It then tests the benchmark against five cases at the core of contemporary governance, the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), Germany’s post-Neubauer carbon-budget framework, South Korea’s Constitutional Court ruling requiring year-by-year targets, Canada’s 2025 pause of the federal consumer fuel charge, and the linked California–Québec cap-and-trade market. The analysis adopts three metrics, temporal alignment, credible commitment, and avoidance of burden-shifting, and reads official texts, auction outcomes, and court decisions. The findings support the central hypothesis that integration of the intergenerational principle is strong in international law, while domestic embedding remains uneven and fragile, improving where courts or automatic policy levers constrain back-loading. Policy implications include independent carbon-budget committees, annual sector pathways with “comply-or-tighten” triggers, cap-and-trade design that restores scarcity when prices clear at the floor, and CBAM roadmaps that link border pricing to plant-level investment. These institutional choices convert treaty ideals into durable, near-term delivery.
Keywords
Keywords: Intergenerational equity; Climate governance; Carbon budgets; Long-term low-emission strategies (LTS); CBAM; Cap-and-trade
Introduction
Global climate policy now unfolds against two converging curves: rapid population growth and accelerating air pollution. When these trends meet, they sharpen an old ethical question about what present generations owe to those who will inherit a hotter and more crowded planet.
Conclusion
The five case studies confirm that the intergenerational principle is firmly embedded at the international level but only unevenly at the domestic level, with stronger outcomes where commitment devices or courts constrain political short-termism.
How to Cite
Cho, Seungbeom. Intergenerational Equity in Climate Governance. Journal of Youth Impact. June 2026; 1(Issue 2). DOI: https://doi.org/10.66245/jyi.v1.i2.009