Editorial: Considering Future Generations in Democratic Governance

Intergenerational issues encompass various future concerns ranging from climate change to government debt, which can potentially harm the well-being of future generations. Scholars have discussed intergenerational equity and justice, and efforts to incorporate future generations in decision-making in society have been growing, including establishing future-regarding institutions. Nevertheless, democratic governance often prioritizes short-term gains over long-term benefits. This thematic issue aims to present the current state of progress and academic discourse on incorporating considerations for future generations into current decision-making. The issue comprises 10 articles with a varied focus, including on young people and those who are yet to be born. Challenges such as misrepresentation and negligence in democratic deliberation are explored, along with legal obligations grounded in human rights. Proxies for future generations in political decision-making are examined, revealing limitations in enforcing their interests. The impact of political short-termism on government responses is discussed, and the role of narratives in moral philosophy is explored. Diverse cases, including climate litigation in the German Federal Constitutional Court, highlight the complexity of addressing future generations. These articles explore and identify challenges in incorporating consideration of future generations, which could be used to catalyze studies on actions that will be taken in the future

Integration and Diffusion in Sustainable Development Goals: Learning from the Past, Looking into the Future

One of the next major challenges for research and policy on sustainability is setting the post-2015 Development Agenda. This challenge arises as a direct result of the formal ending of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015 and as an outcome of the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). The post-2015 Development Agenda is expected to include two agendas: one on human well-being to advance the MDG targets and the other on planetary well-being, which requires a safe "operating space" within the Earth\u27s life-support system. In contrast to the MDGs, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are meant to apply to both developing and developed countries and create a space for development within the stable functioning of the Earth\u27s systems. However, what might this all look like? For answers, this paper reviews the achievements and reflections of the MDGs to date and identifies new challenges entailed in the shift of development goals from "millennium" to "sustainable". While most of the existing studies look at these two sets of issues separately, combining the two reveals two important features of the SDGs. First, SDGs need to integrate both human and planetary well-being in a goal, and second, goals, or sub-goals, need to be formulated at multiple levels, from global to local levels. While the MDGs represented no integrated goals, some of the existing proposals on SDGs include integrated goals. However, our analysis has shown that they do not present the vertical diffusion of goals. Considering both integration and diffusion in the architecture of SDGs is a remaining task

Correction: Kanie, N., et al. Integration and Diffusion in Sustainable Development Goals: Learning from the Past, Looking into the Future. Sustainability 2014, 6, 1761?1775

The authors wish to make the following correction, due to a typographical error, to this paper [1]. On page 1761, the author name “Shunsuke Mangagi” should be “Shunsuke Managi”. [...

Government involvement in EPR and waste management policy - Based on two cases in California, U.S.

Our investigation of two EPR and waste management programs in California, U.S. revealed two common features: involvement of the state government is small, and the establishment of concrete recycling/waste management systems is to a large extent left in the hands of entities who have direct responsibility for their implementation. Based on the degree of government involvement, we categorized recycling and waste management systems in which two entities - producers and municipalities - are engaged, and analysed their strengths and weaknesses. Our finding indicates that much government involvement does not necessarily mean that producer's obligation becomes larger. Further study is needed to examine how to enhance the effectiveness of a program while maintaining its strengths: flexibility and lessened burdens of the government

Product Standards for Multiple-Function Products in Product Policy

Emergence of multiple-function products (MFPs) poses a variety of challenges and risks for achieving sustainable consumption and production as well as fair consumer society and universal design. We overviewed MFPs from these viewpoints and then, focusing on product standard as a means to create mechanisms to reduce environmental loads from products, elucidated advantages and limitation of five approaches of standard-setting for MFPs. The five approches examined were (1) neglecting a multiple function, (2) individual presentation of every function, (3) integrated evaluation of functions, (4) segementation of products, and (5) use of frontier analysis

A Survey on Japanese Stakeholders' Perception of the Concept of Extended Producer Responsibilit

The concept of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) has been underpining recycling/waste/product policy of a number of countries over the past two decades. However, it is considered that the understanding of the concept varies. This presents the findings from a survey conducted in Japan in 2013 to find out the actual perceptions of various stakeholders in Japan. It is part of a global survey conducted in the same year