As the impacts of climate change intensify, states are facing increasing challenges in ensuring that future generations have access to basic living conditions, such as healthcare and financial security. There is no need to elaborate further on the urgent reality of climate change — its effects are well documented and widely acknowledged. However, it should be emphasised that states' inaction alone can lead to violations of future generations' fundamental rights, as neglecting climate issues necessarily threatens their well-being.

Despite the growing body of literature on the protection of future generations, there remains a gap in comparative legal research. In particular, no comprehensive study has examined how different legal systems address the protection of future generations across multiple areas of public law. Most fields of social law, such as pay-as-you-go pension systems, long-term care and public health, as well as budget law, inherently involve intergenerational considerations. This shows that public law already has mechanisms to anticipate and integrate the protection of future generations.

Against this background, the project aims to build bridges to areas of public law where the interests of future generations are routinely considered in state decision-making. The goal is to demonstrate that including future generations as subjects of rights can significantly influence legal outcomes – particularly concerning the application of general constitutional principles such as non-discrimination, equality, and proportionality – rather than being merely a symbolic attempt to address legislative inaction.

By considering perspectives from various countries, including those in the Global South, the project seeks to look beyond the confines of contemporary liberal constitutionalism, which focuses on fundamental freedoms. This broader perspective sheds light on the different paradigms that can be adopted to protect future generations under constitutional law.