Strategy on Intergenerational Fairness

What is it about?

The Strategy on Intergenerational Fairness is about making sure that the choices we make today create better opportunities for tomorrow, and that benefits and responsibilities are shared fairly across all ages.

The strategy reflects the EU’s commitment made at the 2024 United Nations Summit of the Future, endorsing the Pact for the Future and the Declaration on Future Generations. The 2024-2029 Political Guidelines highlight that decisions taken today do not harm future generations and that there’s increased solidarity and engagement between people of different ages.

With Glenn Micallef appointed as the first EU Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport, the EU is taking concrete steps to embed Intergenerational fairness into policymaking.

Shaped by Citizens, for Citizens

The strategy was built through open dialogue with people across Europe. Over nearly a year, the EU Policy Lab, a Citizens’ Engagement Platform, and a European Citizens’ Panel gathered insights to ensure that the strategy reflects real concerns and aspirations.

Adopted in March 2026, the strategy sets out 15 key actions focused on:

Long-term thinking – Ensuring policies today don’t harm future generations.
Youth empowerment – Giving young people a stronger voice in decisions that affect them.
Generational unity – Bringing all age groups together to work towards shared goals.

Examples of the 15 key actions

Action	Status
Multilingual Future Oriented Policy-making Package	Coming soon!
Futures Balance Tool	Development ongoing.
Intergenerational Fairness Index	Coming soon!
Examine impact of policies on young people	Ongoing through the Youth Check and the Youth Policy Dialogues
IGF Strategy Progress Report	Scheduled for the 83rd session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2028.
Organise a Demography Forum	Development ongoing.
Voices of the Future Initiative	Coming soon!

Megatrends reshaping our societies

We’re living through an age of rapid transformation, from demographic change and migration to the green and digital transitions, as well as of shifting geopolitical dynamics - These common challenges are reshaping education, employment and housing across generations.

The European Commission is monitoring 14 megatrends, defined as long-term driving forces that are observable now and will most likely have a global impact.

If you want to learn more about megatrends check out The Megatrends Hub | Knowledge for policy

Mainstreaming intergenerational fairness across policymaking

Mainstreaming intergenerational fairness is one of the strategy’s key objectives. To be effective it must be systematically factored into the design, implementation and evaluation.

Intergenerational fairness should not be treated as a separate policy, but as a guiding principle underpinning all our policies and spending. This is particularly important for:

Competitiveness without resource depletion
Investing in people and promoting a strong European social model
Protecting our planet for those yet to come
Delivering positive impact at global and local level

Examples of mainstreaming

Agriculture & Ocean policy	The Strategy for generational renewal in agriculture and the Blue Intergenerational Programme
Housing	The European Affordable Housing Plan - showcasing the need for innovative housing models such as co-living spaces and intergenerational living.
Social Policy	The EU Anti-Poverty Strategy - highlighting that we need to avoid the transmission of poverty in life across age groups

Communities

Strengthening public awareness and engagement is essential for driving societal change and building broad-based support. It helps ensure that future-oriented considerations are better reflected in public debate and collective decision-making.

👀 Find out more on Strategic Foresight and European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS)

📢 Stay up to date on cross-disciplinary innovation in policymaking - Subscribe to the JRC’s EU Policy Lab Newsletter

👨‍💻 Join the European foresight community of Futures4Europe

Want to go beyond Europe?

Then perhaps the ImPACT Coalitions are for you! You also have the Next Generation Foresight Practitioners (NGFP), a network of over 900 people from all over the world who are using foresight to create positive impact.

Record a video to your future self with the #DearFutureMe initiative and join that group on YouTube! A message to your future self

Contact

Want to know more about intergenerational fairness at the European Commission? Share good practices with us? Reach out to ec-intergeneraitonal-fairness@ec.europa.eu