Intergenerational Climate Justice from the Perspective of Legal Philosophy through a Reconstruction of the Rawlsian Approach

Abstract

The global climate crisis exhibits a sharp temporal asymmetry where present short-term exploitation shifts ecological burdens onto voiceless future generations, yet positive law remains trapped in present-generation bias and strict physical-existence requirements. This study aims to reconstruct John Rawls’s thought experiment, specifically the original position behind a veil of ignorance to formulate legal rights for unborn generations and delineate the state’s intergenerational climate obligations. Utilizing a qualitative normative legal research method, this study analyzes international instruments, Indonesian constitutional jurisprudence, legal doctrines, and Rawlsian distributive justice theory. The findings show that expanding the intergenerational original position via the maximin rule redefines environmental goods as essential goods requisite for enjoying basic liberties, establishing substantive positive rights to a livable planet and climate stability. Furthermore, under the Public Trust Doctrine and green constitutionalism, the state functions as an ecological trustee duty-bound to preserve critical natural capital within planetary boundaries.