5/15/2024 7:33:41 AM

Summit of the Future: A Historical Pivot or Mere Footnote?

Upcoming UN Summit aims to adopt crucial global governance changes, but follow-up efforts are essential for achieving commitments and goals worldwide.

The United Nations’ Summit of the Future in September offers a historic opportunity to adopt several far-reaching, high-impact global governance innovations. The summit’s success also hinges on a robust, closely monitored follow-up effort, championed by developing and developed countries alike, to support the goals and commitments adopted at the summit.

With only four months until the gathering, to be held at the UN headquarters from Sept. 22-23, the contours of its likely legacy — a more effective, networked and inclusive multilateral system — are taking shape. Through negotiations on the “zero draft” and subsequent “compilation draft” of the summit’s main instrument, the Pact for the Future, four major initiatives are emerging:

• A biennial summit on the global economy to bring the G20 and the UN closer to expand development financing for the 2030 Agenda (Sustainable Development Goals) and improve global economic governance.

• An emergency platform for better addressing complex global shocks, such as pandemics or large-scale environmental disasters (although influential countries, such as Pakistan and Cuba, question its purpose and cost).

• A Global Digital Compact with human rights-based principles to lay the foundations for broader governance of cybertech, including AI.

Read Full Article:

Share This Article

Related Articles

India targets net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, says Modi

India’s economy will become carbon neutral by the year 2070, the country’s prime minster has announced at the COP26 climate crisis summit in Glasgow. The target date is two decades beyond what scientists say is needed to avert catastrophic climate impacts. India is the last of the world’s major carbon polluters to announce a net-zero target, with China saying it would reach that goal in 2060, and the United States and the European Union aiming for 2050.

COP26: What climate summit means for one woman in Bangladesh

China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.

Why China's climate policy matters to us all

China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.

Deliver on promises, developing world tells rich at climate talks

A crucial U.N. conference heard calls on its first day for the world's major economies to keep their promises of financial help to address the climate crisis, while big polluters India and Brazil made new commitments to cut emissions. World leaders, environmental experts and activists all pleaded for decisive action to halt the global warming which threatens the future of the planet at the start of the two-week COP26 summit in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Monday. The task facing negotiators was made even more daunting by the failure of the Group of 20 major industrial nations to agree ambitious new commitments at the weekend.