On the 22nd September the United Nations General Assembly adopted the “Pact for the Future” which, reports Reuters, UN secretary-general António Guterres describes as a landmark agreement that is a “step-change towards more effective, inclusive, networked multilateralism”……
UN News reports that….. ‘The Pact’s five broad focus areas include: sustainable development; international peace and security; science and technology; youth and future generations and transforming global governance.
This has become an urgent pivot, as multilateral financial institutions and even the United Nations itself have come up short seeking solutions to 21st century problems, the pact lays out.
By endorsing the Pact, UN Member States pledged, among other things, to:
- Turbocharge the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on climate change, two landmark 2015 agreements that have seen halting progress and missed milestones
- Listen to young people and include them in decision-making, at the national and global levels
- Build stronger partnerships with civil society, the private sector, local and regional authorities and more
- Redouble efforts to build and sustain peaceful, inclusive and just societies and address the root causes of conflicts
- Protect all civilians in armed conflict
- Accelerate the implementation of our commitments on women, peace and
The Associated Press describes the “blueprint” as an attempt by the UN to “bring the world’s increasingly divided nations together to tackle 21st-century challenges from climate change and artificial intelligence to escalating conflicts and increasing inequality and poverty”.
Citizens’ Climate international has produced a new report to coincide with the summit. ……
As the Summit of the Future adopted a new Pact for the Future, in New York, Citizens’ Climate International released its 2024 Reinventing Prosperity Report — “Beyond the Horizon: Priorities for a Livable Future” — which provides insights from stakeholders around the world on how efforts should be focused to provide a prosperous, equitable and sustainable world for everyone.
Over 18 months, CCI ran a focused consultation on Priorities for a Livable Future and received input from more than 75 contributors in 23 countries. Chapters providing guiding insights from stakeholders and a call for solidarity and good governance were published ahead of the Summit. As the report notes, we did this “because we believe it is essential to bring outside voices into the halls of power and to provide local, values-based insights to intergovernmental meetings like the United Nations Summit of the Future.”
“The overriding insight from the report is the need to rethink how the world defines prosperity,” said Joe Robertson, Executive Director of Citizens’ Climate International. “Given the threat that climate change poses to the well-being of people and the livability of many places on the planet, all policies and investments must consider climate value. In other words, the future depends on whether we really measure what is at stake in our decision-making, whether overarching and everyday decisions will worsen or improve climate-related risk and cost.”
Nine years ago, the 193-nation United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which lists 17 Sustainable Development Goals to improve the quality of life for all people and protect the environment, making our planet and our societies safe for future generations. Progress toward achieving these goals is woefully behind schedule, and a major impediment is climate chaos.
In a section of CCI’s report about the Sustainable Development Goals, contributors shared suggestions on how to get the goals back on track. A sampling of insights and actions to prioritise:
- On SDG1, ending poverty: Design and support new business models that deliver multiple SDG benefits while providing expanded access to new investment, new skills, and better livelihoods.
- On SDG2, ending hunger: Shift policy, banking, and investment standards, to support a transition to sustainable, climate-resilient production of food that is healthy, affordable, and accessible to all.
- On SDG5, gender equality: Gender equality improvements can accelerate society-wide progress on all of the Goals, and all of the Goals—and relevant implementation actions, policies, and investments—should have gender equality as a core priority.
Our ability to preserve a livable world for future generations, the focus of the Summit of the Future, hinges on our success or failure to contain global heating to no more than 1.5° Celsius. At COP28 in Dubai last year, 196 nations agreed to “transition away from fossil fuels” in order to prevent breaching this dangerous threshold.
“If we are serious about our commitment to that transition, we must redefine what it means to have a prosperous future,” said Robertson. “Our report indicates there is awareness and support for a coordinated rapid phase out of fossil fuels and for putting climate value at the heart of all development.”