Author: Zeng Lu
The 2024 United Nations Future Summit released the Pact for the Future. What is the focus of the Pact and why is it important?
From September 22 to 23, 2024, the United Nations Future Summit was held in New York. The Future Summit is the most anticipated high-level meeting of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, aiming to achieve global consensus, address urgent international issues, accelerate the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and promote reform of the United Nations system. Approximately 130 heads of state and government attended the summit.
On September 22, world leaders at the opening ceremony of the Future Summit adopted the Pact for the Future and its appendices, the Global Digital Pact and the Next Generation Declaration, committing to strengthen international cooperation, further develop the framework of multilateralism, adapt to future development, and strive to build a safe, peaceful, just, equal, inclusive, sustainable, and prosperous world. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the Pact for the Future as a milestone agreement, "a step towards a more effective, inclusive, and networked multilateralism."
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In 2020, the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic that ravaged the world. UN member states asked Secretary-General Guterres to identify gaps in the existing multilateral system and make recommendations for strengthening global governance and future solutions. In 2021, Guterres put forward the report "Our Common Agenda" to set out a vision for the future of global cooperation. It calls for an inclusive, networked and effective multilateralism to better respond to and realize the interests of people and the planet, and to get the world back on track by providing momentum for action on the Sustainable Development Goals. The report outlines possible solutions to address the gaps and risks that have emerged since 2015 and calls for a future summit in 2024. The permanent representatives of Germany and Namibia to the United Nations served as co-coordinators of the negotiations on the Future Compact. Zambia and Sweden as well as Jamaica and the Netherlands jointly promoted the negotiations on the two annexes of the Global Digital Compact and the Next Generation Declaration. The Future Compact agreement was reached after about nine months of negotiations. |
What Achievements Have been Made?
The Pact for the Future is the most comprehensive international agreement in years, covering long-standing issues that have eluded consensus for decades, as well as new domains. The primary objective of the agreement is to ensure that multilateral institutions can adapt to the realities of today and the challenges of the future. The Pact for the Future emphasizes the necessity of strengthening global solidarity and highlights that the current global challenges surpass the capacity of any single country to address alone.
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The Future Compact focuses on five themes: sustainable development; international peace and security; science and technology; youth and future generations and transforming global governance. The Conpact proposes 56 broad actions to address the world's greatest challenges. It urges countries to take all measures to fulfill existing commitments and meet emerging challenges and opportunities.
The Compact for the Future supports the acceleration of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and commits to closing the financing gap, a major obstacle facing many developing countries that want to make progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. The document reaffirms the climate goals of the Paris Agreement, proposes to "transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner" and commits to stepping up efforts to combat climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental degradation.
The Compact for the Future advocates for all countries to have the obligation to respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity, fulfill disarmament obligations, mitigate the risks posed by artificial intelligence and lethal autonomous weapons systems, and pursue a world without nuclear weapons.
The Compact for the Future calls for investing in children and young people to develop their potential and to strengthen their meaningful participation at national and international levels.
The Pact for the Future proposes reforming the effectiveness and representativeness of the Security Council, addressing historical underrepresentation of Africa, strengthening the United Nations system, enhancing the voice of developing countries in decision-making at international financial institutions, mobilizing more funds from multilateral development banks to help developing countries meet their development needs, jointly reviewing sovereign debt architecture to ensure sustainable borrowing for developing countries, and strengthening global financial safety nets through cooperation between the International Monetary Fund and its member countries.
In addition, the Compact for the Future calls for strengthened work on human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment, and reaffirms the importance of engaging other stakeholders, including local and regional governments, civil society and the private sector, in global governance.
The Compact for the Future states: "Today, we pledge a new beginning in multilateralism. The actions in this Pact aim to ensure that the United Nations and other key multilateral institutions can deliver a better future for people and planet, enabling us to fulfil our existing commitments while rising to new and emerging challenges and opportunities."
What Are the Controversies?
The arduous negotiations surrounding the Future Pact over the past year have highlighted the cultural, religious, and geopolitical divisions among nearly 200 member states of the United Nations. Countries have engaged in months-long disputes over nuclear disarmament, sanctions, abortion, reform of international financial institutions and the Security Council, as well as control over the internet. Until the last moment, there remained uncertainty as to whether consensus could be reached on the Future Pact. UN Secretary-General Guterres prepared three different versions of his speech, each tailored to the scenarios of the agreement being approved, not approved, or the situation remaining unclear.
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The difference between developed and developing countries is among the most significant challenges.The most important thing in negotiationOne of the challenges.Developed countries, represented by the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), are the "creators" of the existing global governance system and the defenders of the existing international order. Developed countries tend to reform international institutions in a piecemeal manner and retain the privileges they enjoy in international institutions, especially in global economic governance. Developing countries, which have traditionally been the "recipients" of the world order, are no longer satisfied with this passive role, but hope to establish a more equal multilateral system to strengthen their voice, power and interests. Developing countries hope that the multilateral system can provide them with debt relief, development aid, trade opportunities, climate financing and cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, and narrow the gap between developing and developed countries. Several member states repeatedly called on global institutions to better represent all countries at the plenary session.
International FinanceInstitutional reform is the among most critical and difficult issues.One of the most difficult issues in negotiations.Ostensibly, all governments support the goal of a more inclusive, fair and representative global economic governance system. In reality, developed countries do not support the UN’s role in reforming international financial institutions. Developed countries, led by the United States, believe that the reform of international financial institutions, especially the reform process of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, should not be discussed and decided in the UN General Assembly, where one country has one vote. They believe that the reform should be carried out in other frameworks that have the “capacity” to solve financial problems. In this way, developed countries can benefit from greater decision-making power with a weighted voting mechanism. Meanwhile, low- and middle-income countries feel excluded from the current Bretton Woods system and are tired of the lack of progress in expanding their voice in international financial institutions and obtaining more development and climate finance, emergency credit lines and debt relief. Developing countries strongly demand concrete commitments on the reform of international financial institutions to ensure easier access to concessional financing, which is particularly important given the increasing impact of climate change.
Climate changerelated terms have been through multiple amendment.Future ContractdraftThe first draft supported the goal of transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy. In subsequent negotiations, opposition from oil and gas producers led to the deletion of the clause. In August 2024, 77 former world leaders and Nobel laureates published an open letter expressing "serious concern" about the deletion of references to fossil fuels in the latest draft of the Future Pact, and urged the United Nations to "commit to a rapid and fair transition away from fossil fuels." The final version of the Future Compact proposes "transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner" to achieve the goal of global net zero emissions by 2050. The text is consistent with the wording of COP28 held in Dubai last December.
In addition, there are many disputes among the parties in the preparation and convening of the future summit, including on the wording supporting nuclear non-proliferation and non-use of nuclear weapons, the role of stakeholders such as civil society and the private sector in the future UN system, and the establishment of an emergency platform to manage complex global shocks such as pandemics.
Why is the Pact for the Future Important?
Since the 1940s, the global development governance mechanism represented by the United Nations has made significant positive contributions to improving the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable people on the planet. However, decades later, new global challenges and issues such as climate change, global health, debt problems, inequality and poverty, geopolitical tensions and terrorism continue to emerge, which are complex and rapidly changing, far exceeding the response capacity and adaptation scope of existing international institutions. However, reforming the existing multilateral system usually requires consensus among member states, and the slow and cumbersome decision-making process makes it difficult for international institutions to make timely decisions in rapidly changing situations, limiting the ability of the multilateral system to respond quickly to new challenges. Against this background, the Future Summit is committed to building consensus and laying the foundation for reshaping multilateralism.
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Multilateralism is key to address current and future challenges.Under the impact of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, global debt has soared, many low- and middle-income countries have failed to obtain sufficient support from multilateral development financial institutions, and the United Nations has not played an expected role in the conflicts and humanitarian disasters in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan. These challenges have exacerbated pessimism about multilateralism. However, we face unprecedentedly complex global challenges and cross-border issues today and in the future. No country can be immune to them. Only through international cooperation and multilateralism can the global challenges be effectively addressed. In addition, international governance mechanisms such as the United Nations are far from perfect, but they play an important and critical role in promoting and defending the positions and interests of small and developing countries. Therefore, multilateralism is not an option, but a key and necessary choice to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.
The Pact for the Future is the result of a compromise between the parties.Although UN Secretary-General Guterres called the Pact for the Future a milestone, the language of the Pact is far from Guterres' initial ambition to call for a revolutionary reform of multilateralism. Due to the frequent geopolitical conflicts in recent years and the decline in trust between major powers, some countries have weak political will to promote global governance and international cooperation. On the other hand, because the Pact of the Future was negotiated and signed by nearly 200 countries, the final version reflects the minimum common ground among countries. Therefore, some experts have limited expectations for the final results of the Future Summit.Some even think that the Pact for the Future is disappointing.
Lack of binding force and details diminish the impact.The Pact for the Future provides a new starting point for multilateralism. However, the Future Pact and its annexes are not binding, which has raised concerns about their implementation. The more than 30-page Pact for the Future proposes 56 action recommendations, requiring the leaders of 193 UN member states to translate their commitments into practical actions, thereby changing the lives of more than 8 billion people around the world. However, the lack of necessary details for implementation in the Pact for the Future is likely to weaken its impact. After all, the impact of the Pact for the Future will ultimately depend on the subsequent implementation arrangements.
The Pact for the Future helps countries reaffirm their commitment to multilateralism.Despite frustration with the effectiveness of the United Nations, the attention and efforts that countries have devoted to the Future Summit shows that most member states value the UN institutions and seek to revitalize the multilateral system so that it can meet the global challenges of today and tomorrow. The negotiation and adoption of the Future Pact was technically and politically complex. But through this process, countries reaffirmed their commitment to multilateralism, looked to the future, and tried to make multilateral institutions better respond to global challenges. The Pact for Future states: "We must renew trust in global institutions by making them more representative of and responsive to today’s world and more effective at delivering on the commitments that we have made to one another and our people. "
The Pact for the Future helps countries rebuild trust among each other.The world today is experiencing multiple challenges, with tensions between the North and the South, geopolitical turmoil, and lack of trust between countries. The interests of different countries are often in conflict with each other rather than in common. Promoting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals is about global solidarity. Although the parties have never seen eye to eye on many aspects, the Pact for the Future refocuses on the Sustainable Development Goals and helps countries rebuild mutual trust among the parties in a turbulent environment.
"Effective multilateralism" is not a new resolution or new task reached at the Future Summit at one time. To some extent, the Future Summit is a global effort to shape the future of multilateralism and make the UN system better, more effective and more adaptable. UN Secretary-General Guterres' term of office is expected to end in January 2026. The Future Compact is expected to become an important and positive political legacy of Guterres. Whether the Future Compact can effectively promote progress in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and promote effective multilateral institutional reforms depends largely on the political will and concrete commitment of countries around the world. Only by pragmatically solving current problems can we lay the foundation for solutions to future global progress and challenges.
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