Intergenerational cooperation theory, encompassing individual psychological motivations, collective social norms, and institutionalized commitments, facilitates sustainable development. Photo: TUCHONG

Why are people today willing to bear the tangible costs of green transformation when future generations can offer neither immediate returns nor even explicit feedback? A theoretical answer to this question bears not only on the social and psychological foundations of ecological civilization construction, but also on the development of China’s independent knowledge system in the field of sustainable development. In recent years, research on intergenerational cooperation—particularly in psychology and the field of behavioral decision-making—has advanced considerably. This work offers both a new analytical framework for addressing the question and a theoretical perspective for examining the wisdom of intergenerational cooperation underlying China’s approach to green and sustainable development through the lens of psychological mechanisms.

Theoretical connotations and uniqueness of decision-making

Intergenerational cooperation refers to decision-making in which individuals voluntarily sacrifice certain of their short-term interests to secure long-term ecological and developmental well-being for future generations. As a key psychological process underpinning green and sustainable development, intergenerational cooperation should first be clearly distinguished from intertemporal and social decision-making in order to be properly understood.

In terms of the choices involved, intertemporal decision-making generally concerns short-term outcomes within an individual’s lifetime, with the decision-maker as the sole beneficiary. Social decision-making centers on immediate, intragenerational interactions, requiring people to weigh their own interests against those of contemporary social groups. Intergenerational cooperation, by contrast, often extends more than 50 years into the future, expanding the range of beneficiaries from the individual alone to both the individual and future generations. The shift therefore changes both the temporal horizon of the decision and its underlying moral structure. Decision-making processes also differ. Intertemporal and intragenerational social decisions are largely based on valuation and cost–benefit calculations, making their underlying logic relatively straightforward. Intergenerational cooperation, however, encompasses multiple stages, including value assessment, the balancing of competing interests, and the formation of an active altruistic motivation. Beyond making basic judgments about value, individuals must actively choose to sacrifice present personal interests for the benefit of those not yet born. This makes such decisions both more difficult and more explicitly altruistic.

Intergenerational cooperation is closely related to several other concepts in intergenerational relations, yet remains distinct from each. “Intergenerational equity,” rooted primarily in political philosophy and ethics, concerns justice in the distribution of benefits and responsibilities among generations and emphasizes the equal treatment of rights across time. “Intergenerational benevolence” denotes active concern for the well-being of future generations and extends equal moral consideration to them, with care and responsibility at its core. “Intergenerational responsibility” translates broad principles of fairness and moral concern into individual standards of conduct, focusing on people’s subjective understanding of their own obligations. Derived from social identity theory, “intergenerational identification” treats future generations as part of “us,” narrowing the psychological distance between generations and laying an emotional foundation for cooperation. “Intergenerational solidarity,” a sociological concept, describes close social relationships among generations based on emotional bonds, shared values, and functional mutual support. Intergenerational cooperation, by contrast, turns these forms of cognition, emotion, and motivation into concrete trade-offs and behavioral choices: When present interests conflict with those of future descendants, individuals act in ways that favor the latter. Together, these concepts form a logical progression—norms, benevolence, responsibility, identification, solidarity, and cooperation—that traces the full movement from macro-level ethical principles to micro-level psychological mechanisms and behavioral outcomes.

From this perspective, we argue that the choices people make today affect not only their own survival and developmental interests, but also the living environment and developmental opportunities available to future generations. Traditional Chinese sayings such as “one generation plants the trees in whose shade another generation rests” and “take from nature with restraint and use resources with moderation” are more than mere aphorisms expressing ecological wisdom. Their underlying logic closely accords with theories of intergenerational cooperative decision-making. They embody the Chinese nation’s deep understanding and long-standing practice—over thousands of years—of altruism across generations and the principles of sustainable development.

Individual psychological mechanisms

At the individual level, intergenerational cooperation is supported by three closely connected psychological mechanisms. Nurturing motivation provides the initial emotional impetus, future imagination helps people bridge the distance separating them from generations yet to come, and a commitment to future-oriented action converts these motivations and perceptions into sustained behavior.

The first of these mechanisms is “nurturing motivation,” an evolutionarily formed psychological tendency that prompts individuals to act in ways that promote the survival and reproduction of their offspring. When people recognize that their behavior will directly affect the environment inherited by their descendants, the instinct to protect them can be translated into concrete pro-environmental action. The traditional Chinese maxim “if parents truly love their children, they will make far-reaching plans for them” resonates strongly with this motivation. It allows ecological protection and green transformation to transcend the status of mere social responsibilities or policy objectives, becoming natural expressions of familial affection and an instinctive commitment to safeguarding and passing on well-being to future generations.

Future imagination provides the cognitive bridge needed to extend this concern beyond the immediate family and present moment. The ability to move mentally beyond the present and envision circumstances yet to come is a distinctively human psychological capacity. When individuals can vividly picture the ecological challenges their descendants may face, empathy is activated and their sense of intergenerational responsibility grows stronger. In the Chinese cultural context, the maxim “achievements may serve the present generation, but their benefits will endure for thousands of generations” captures this capacity in simple but profound terms. It enables people today to mentally “see” future generations benefiting from their efforts, lending powerful psychological meaning and motivation to sacrifices made in the present.

Nurturing motivation and future imagination, however, must ultimately be converted into sustained, future-oriented action. The gap between intention and behavior remains a critical obstacle to intergenerational cooperation, and one way to overcome it is through a “commitment mechanism,” under which the present generation makes institutionally binding commitments to those that follow. Once established, such arrangements are likely to be inherited, maintained, and carried forward by future generations. The sense of mission and responsibility embodied in China’s ecological civilization initiative—“success does not have to be mine, but my contribution must be part of its achievement”—captures the intellectual core of its approach to intergenerational cooperation commitments. It serves as a crucial link, converting psychological identification and value recognition into sustained and concrete practical action.

Group psychological mechanisms

At the group level, intergenerational cooperation depends on three mutually reinforcing mechanisms. Group identity expands the boundaries of collective concern to include future generations, social norms turn that concern into widely accepted standards of conduct, and institutional contracts give those standards lasting and enforceable form.

Group identity constitutes the foundation for stimulating intergenerational cooperation. When individuals perceive future generations as part of “us” rather than “them,” they become significantly more willing to accept present costs for their descendants’ benefit. In the context of China’s ecological civilization construction, the cultural tradition of integrating the “family and state as one” encourages contemporary citizens to include future members of the nation within the boundaries of their collective identity. This sense of continuity across generations provides a distinctive psychological resource for mobilizing broad participation in ecological protection and other forms of intergenerational cooperation.

Social norms then transform this shared identity into collective expectations about appropriate behavior. As unwritten behavioral standards within groups, such norms shape intergenerational cooperation through two principal channels. The first operates within families, where influence flows in both directions: Parents shape their children’s environmental attitudes, while children’s choices can in turn alter household practices and decisions. Through this reciprocal process, norms of intergenerational responsibility are continually reinforced within the family as society’s most basic unit. The second channel operates at the societal level. Public communication, exemplary practices, and cultural rituals can cultivate a broader ethic of intergenerational care, elevating the principle of planning for descendants and securing benefits for generations to come from a matter of individual virtue to one of collective consensus. Such norm-building provides an indispensable social and psychological foundation for the development of China’s ecological civilization.

For intergenerational cooperation to endure, however, collective identity and social norms must ultimately be supported by stable institutional commitments. Institutional contracts help reconcile conflicts of interest between generations and establish reliable expectations for green development. Through the rule of law and the principle of contractual obligation, they embed the present generation’s ecological responsibilities to its successors in long-term governance mechanisms that can be implemented, monitored, and traced, thereby translating both the traditional ideal of “harmony between humanity and nature” and Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization into institutional practice. In theoretical terms, these arrangements can bring together theories of intergenerational justice and intertemporal decision-making with the indigenous Chinese governance principle of shared protection across generations, helping to overcome fragmented intergenerational perceptions and the diffusion of responsibility. In practice, they can shift the building of a Beautiful China away from short-term, campaign-style governance and toward long-term, institutionalized collaborative governance. This helps preserve and increase the value of ecological assets, ensure more equal access to development opportunities across generations, and support the long-term sustainable development of the Chinese nation.

The theory of intergenerational cooperation brings together three interconnected dimensions: individual psychological motivations, collective social norms, and institutionalized commitments. It therefore provides a distinctive behavioral decision-making framework for understanding China’s approach to green and sustainable development. Rooted in a Chinese cultural tradition of coexistence and mutual flourishing across generations, intergenerational cooperation can not only establish a pathway from individual environmental awareness to collective ecological governance, but also effectively mitigate biases toward short-term interests, reconcile conflicts between the developmental interests of different generations, and strengthen the long-term governance system for building a Beautiful China.

Li Aimei is a professor from the School of Management at Jinan University (Guangzhou).