As societies become more concerned with their impacts on future generations, the question of how to translate that concern into greater consideration in contemporary decision-making is coming to the fore. Despite growing societal acceptance of the ethics of obligations to the future – as reflected in record-high number of future-sensitive constitutions and international treaties – present generations’ promises to future generations remain unfulfilled. This article explains why and offers an alternative approach to future-proofing. After providing a systematic account of the multiple efforts at aligning the actions of decision-makers with the interests of future generations, it argues that achieving the inclusion of future generations’ interests in contemporary policymaking requires more than their legal codification and the establishment of new and typically scattered institutions, mechanisms and procedures. It rather calls for a more holistic, future-orientated and proactive approach by all public authorities. These must increasingly be expected to create the conditions not only for policymakers to consider the temporal dimension of their decisions, but also for all stakeholders – including new dedicated institutions – to hold present people accountable to currently non-existent future generations. To do so beyond the environment and climate space is a matter of urgency. This is the spirit animating this Special Issue devoted to long-term risks and future generations: to nurture a more imaginative theorisation and operationalisation of the recognition of future generations’ interests in contemporary policymaking beyond today’s institutional and conceptual models.

随着社会越来越关注其对子孙后代的影响，如何将这种关注转化为当代决策中更多考虑的问题日益凸显。尽管社会越来越接受对未来的义务道德 — — 正如数量创历史新高的对未来敏感的宪法和国际条约所反映的那样 — — 当代人对后代人的承诺仍然没有兑现。本文解释了原因并提供了一种面向未来的替代方法。在系统地阐述了使决策者的行动与子孙后代的利益保持一致的多重努力之后，它认为，实现将子孙后代的利益纳入当代政策制定需要的不仅仅是将其法律编纂和建立新的和通常是分散的机构、机制和程序。相反，它要求所有公共当局采取更全面、面向未来和积极主动的方法。必须越来越多地期望这些不仅能够为政策制定者创造条件来考虑其决策的时间维度，而且还能为所有利益相关者 — — 包括新的专门机构 — — 让现在的人们对目前不存在的子孙后代负责。当务之急是在环境和气候空间之外做到这一点。这就是本期致力于长期风险和子孙后代的特刊所秉持的精神：超越当今的制度和概念模式，在当代政策制定中培育出更具想象力的理论和操作性，以承认子孙后代的利益。