Climate Change and Future Generations: Fairness, Political Catastrophe, and the Preservation of Just and Stable Institutions Over Time

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36253/rifp-3267

Keywords:

Climate Justice, Institutional Intergenerational Sufficientarianism, Political Catastrophe, Limits to Inequalities, Environmental Authoritarianism

Abstract

This paper argues that anthropogenic climate change poses a fundamental threat to the objective conditions of justice and the stability of future political institutions directly and only indirectly to future individuals. In the spirit of Rawlsian theory, it defends a position of institutional intergenerational sufficientarianism, which holds that the political institutions in which present generations participate have a duty of justice to prevent future political catastrophes through immediate climate action now. Measures aimed at guaranteeing the objective conditions of justice for future institutions may carry significant distributive and political implications for liberal democracies, especially in terms of socioeconomic costs. Therefore, we advocate for climate policies that address socioeconomic inequalities while strengthening both the inclusiveness and effectiveness of democratic institutions.

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Author Biographies

Diana Piroli, University of Catania, Italy

I am a political philosopher interested in climate justice, cultural conflicts, and politics of recognition, mainly inspired by Political Liberalism. Currently, I am a Post-doctoral Researcher at the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Catania under the PRIN 2022 Project, “The Paradigm Shift in the Modern Understanding of Freedom”, coordinated at the Unict by Prof. Luigi Caranti. My take on the project regards the prospects of Immanuel Kant’s practical philosophy in the pressing problem of antropogenic climate change today, with a particular look at climate conflicts in liberal democratic societies.

Previously, I was a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Institute of Law, Politics, and Development (DIRPOLIS) at the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies. Research Area: Ethics and Global Challenges. At the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, I participated in the Italian 'PRO3 Project: Theories and Toolkit for the Ecological Transition: Philosophical, Mathematical, Ethical and Legal Profiles of the Carbon Budget Sustainability Challenge' (Grant Number: PROGMIURC21_23AP), coordinated by Prof. Alberto Pirni. The Project was an interdisciplinary research realized in partnership with the Scuola Normale Superiore and IUSS Pavia and financed by the Italian “Ministero dell'Istruzione e del Merito” (MIUR). My role on the PRO3 Project was to investigate the intergenerational implications regarding a just distribution of the remaining Global Carbon Budget from a normative-philosophical perspective.

Besides this, I have been actively engaged in recent international and multidisciplinary projects such as the Program 'EELISA – European University' at Sant'Anna School, a research partnership between Sant’Anna, Scuola Normale, the Institut Jean Nicod (PSL-ENS), and the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. At Sant'Anna School, Dr. Piroli has also participated as a virtual delegate during the United Nations Climate Change Conference 28 (COP28).

I also actively participated in Marie-Curie Rise Project's 'Kant in South America' (KANTINSA), coordinated by Prof. Luigi Caranti, which covered the partnership from four Universities in South American and four from Europe .

Additionally, at the University of Santa Catarina, I always has been strongly engaged in the organization in local and international conferences, such as the Humboldt-Kolleg on Human Rights (2018) and 8th International Symposium on Justice (2018).

From 1st January 2025, I will be part of the Marie-Curie Staff Exchange Project “JUSTLA - Justice in the XXI Century: A Perspective from Latin America” with a consortium of 18 universities and a network of 150 researchers.

Nunzio Alì, University of Minho, Portugal

Dr. Alì is an Assistant Professor (RTDa) at the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Catania, Italy, and a former postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Political Science at the University of São Paulo, Brazil (2018-2020).

He earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy of the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil (2018). He was visiting research at the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina) and the Chaire Hoover d’éthique économique et sociale, Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium). His research interests include theories of justice, economic inequality, theories of power and domination, and human rights. He is mainly concerned with the relation between economic inequality and political power in liberal democracies and how this can and should affect our view on social and distributive justice. Dr. Alì first book is "How Rich Should the 1% Be? Proportional Justice and Economic Inequality", Routledge, 2022.

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Published

2025-12-30

How to Cite

Piroli, D., & Alì, N. (2025). Climate Change and Future Generations: Fairness, Political Catastrophe, and the Preservation of Just and Stable Institutions Over Time. Rivista Italiana Di Filosofia Politica, (9), 63–87. https://doi.org/10.36253/rifp-3267

Issue

No. 9 (2025)

Section

Il tema

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Copyright (c) 2025 Diana Piroli, Nunzio Alì

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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