What is the Pact for the Future?
The Pact for the Future is a landmark agreement adopted by United Nations Member States at the 2024 Summit of the Future. It is the most wide-ranging international agreement in decades, designed to make the international system more effective, inclusive and fit for 21st-century challenges.
Alongside the Pact, Member States also adopted two annexes:
- the Global Digital Compact, a shared framework for digital cooperation and AI governance;
- the Declaration on Future Generations, a first-of-its-kind commitment to long-term thinking and intergenerational responsibility.
This remarkable outcome reflects a strong recommitment to the principles of multilateralism, solidarity and international law. It is the culmination of a years-long intergovernmental process, rooted in the Declaration on the commemoration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations and informed by the Secretary-General’s report Our Common Agenda.
The Permanent Representatives of Germany and Namibia facilitated the negotiations of the Pact for the Future. The Permanent Representatives of Sweden and Zambia those on the Global Digital Compact. The Permanent Representatives of Jamaica and The Netherlands those on the Declaration on Future Generations. The President of the seventy-ninth session of the General Assembly, His Excellency Mr. Philémon Yunji Yang, presided over the adoption.
What does the Pact and its annexes aim to achieve?
The Pact and its annexes set out a clear and ambitious path to modernize global governance, accelerate progress on sustainable development, and strengthen international cooperation. It brings together concrete actions across five key areas:
Sustainable development and financing for development
- The Pact is designed to turbocharge implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- The most detailed UN agreement ever on reforming the international financial architecture, including:
- greater voice and representation for developing countries in international financial institutions (IFIs);
- more financing from multilateral development banks;
- a review of sovereign debt systems to ensure sustainable borrowing;
- a stronger financial safety net to protect the poorest during crises. - Strong commitments on climate action, including:
- keeping global temperature rise below 1.5°C;
- transitioning away from fossil fuels to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. - A commitment to explore a global minimum tax on high-net-worth individuals.
International peace and security
- The most progressive and concrete commitment to Security Council reform since the 1960s, including steps to redress the underrepresentation of Africa.
- The first multilateral recommitment to nuclear disarmament in more than a decade.
- Agreement to strengthen international frameworks that govern outer space, including a clear commitment to prevent an arms race in space.
- Steps to avoid the weaponization and misuse of new technologies, including lethal autonomous weapons, and reaffirming that the laws of war apply to emerging domains.
- A stronger emphasis on prevention and peaceful settlement of disputes:
- intensifying diplomacy and mediation;
- revitalizing tools for pacific settlement;
- supporting the Secretary-General’s good offices. - Concrete measures to protect civilians and safeguard humanitarian access in armed conflict – including restricting or refraining, as appropriate, from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, and protecting humanitarian and media personnel.
- Commitments to build and sustain peace:
- reducing all forms of violence;
- tackling racism and intolerance;
- financing prevention and peacebuilding;
- addressing risks from disinformation and illicit arms flows.
Science, technology and innovation and digital cooperation
- A commitment to scale up support for developing countries – through technology transfer on favourable terms, capacity-building, financing, and stronger North–South, South–South and triangular cooperation – so they can harness science, technology and innovation for sustainable development.
- Ensuring science, technology and innovation contribute to the full enjoyment of human rights – with safeguards for ethics, accountability and protection against misuse, and with benefits reaching those in vulnerable situations, including through assistive technologies for persons with disabilities.
- A pledge to close the gender digital divide and ensure that women and girls have equal opportunities to participate in and lead science, technology and innovation, while addressing technology-related risks such as online violence and discrimination.
- In addition, the Global Digital Compact, annexed to the Pact, is the first comprehensive global framework for digital governance. It includes commitments to:
- connect all people, schools and hospitals to the Internet;
- anchor digital governance in human rights and international law;
- make the digital space safe for all, especially children;
- govern artificial intelligence (AI), including through an international scientific panel and a global policy dialogue, as the first such global agreement on cooperation for AI governance;
- promote open and accessible data, models and standards;
- advance national and international data governance by 2030.
Youth and future generations
- A strong commitment to expand meaningful youth participation, especially in global-level decision-making.
- Investment in children and young people so they can reach their full potential – through access to education, health, decent work and social protection, including a proposal for a Global Youth Investment Platform.
- A pledge to protect the human rights of all young people:
- combating discrimination and violence;
- promoting inclusion;
- addressing the impacts of climate change and environmental challenges on youth. - Adoption of the first-ever Declaration on Future Generations, including concrete steps to embed long-term thinking into today’s policymaking.
Transforming global governance
- Renewed emphasis on human rights, gender equality, and the empowerment of women and girls across all areas of the Pact.
- A clear call to protect human rights.
- Strong signals on the importance of inclusive governance, involving civil society, the private sector, and local and regional authorities.
- A push to rethink how we measure progress, moving beyond gross domestic product (GDP) to include well-being and sustainability.
- A stronger, more future-ready UN system:
- boosting capabilities in innovation, data, digital transformation and strategic foresight;
- ensuring accessibility for persons with disabilities;
- securing adequate, predictable financing. - Strengthened international cooperation for the peaceful and sustainable use of outer space – reaffirming the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, addressing space traffic and debris, and encouraging inclusive participation in governance.
Who is responsible for implementing the Pact?
The promise of the Pact must now be turned into reality.
The Pact for the Future and its annexes contain 363 specific commitments for follow-up action. Of these, 261 are the responsibility of Member States – from advancing peace and security to transforming the global financial system and governing digital technologies.
But Member States are not alone.
The United Nations system is also taking action to implement the commitments it is directly responsible for, and to support countries in their efforts. This includes:
- Coordinating follow-up through a high-level steering committee, chaired by the Secretary-General;
- Driving progress through six UN-wide working groups and two task teams, each focused on a key theme of the Pact and its annexes;
- Supporting implementation at the regional level, through the United Nations Regional Economic Commissions, and at the country level, through UN Resident Coordinators and Country Teams;
- Providing strategic guidance, data, coordination and communications via a dedicated team for Pact implementation housed in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General.
This is a system-wide effort to turn ambition into outcomes, and ensure the Pact delivers results where it matters most: on the ground, in communities, and for future generations.
What does this mean in practical steps?
The Pact for the Future and its annexes are more than just documents. They represent a shared strategic vision for a more just, resilient and sustainable world. Their adoption was a turning point, but the real test lies in what comes next: turning promises into concrete actions and real impact that improve people’s lives.
That work is already under way.
As soon as the Pact and its annexes were adopted, the United Nations (UN) began putting systems in place to deliver. A structure now exists across the UN to drive action, make decisions, and monitor progress on what the UN itself is responsible for.
Here’s what this looks like in practice – just a few examples of the many initiatives already moving forward:
- A global study is under way to examine the impact of military spending on sustainable development – a first for the UN. The findings will inform policy and spending decisions across the system.
- Work has started to develop new ways to measure progress beyond gross domestic product (GDP), focusing on human well-being and planetary sustainability. To take this forward, the Secretary-General has appointed an independent High-Level Expert Group tasked with developing a framework and initial set of indicators that go beyond gross domestic product (GDP). The group will report to the General Assembly by the end of 2025, after which Member States will consider its recommendations and decide on next steps.
- The UN is helping set guardrails for artificial intelligence, through the Global Digital Compact and a road map for inclusive, rights-based AI governance.
To coordinate this work:
- A high-level steering committee, chaired by the UN Secretary-General, sets priorities and tracks progress.
- Six working groups and two task teams, each focused on a key theme – Peace and Security, IFA (international financial architecture) Reform, SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) delivery, Digital Technologies, UN Governance Reform, Youth, Future Generations and Beyond GDP (Gross Domestic Product) – bring together UN experts to translate commitments into action.
- A small team in the Secretary-General’s office ensures everything stays on track and that different parts of the UN system work together.
Across the system, UN entities are:
- Working together to turn Pact commitments into action, including through quick wins where progress can be achieved right away.
- Building the Pact into day-to-day operations, so its goals influence UN plans, budgets and programmes.
- Tracking progress: collecting data and analyzing how much has been done.
- Supporting implementation on the ground: UN Resident Coordinators and Country Teams are working with governments to embed the Pact into national strategies and plans, helping accelerate progress on shared priorities.
Next steps
The Pact is already shaping discussions and decisions around the world. Its implementation will be advanced through major international meetings and reviews, including:
- Later in 2025 and 2026 – Global meetings on digital cooperation, the UN's peacebuilding efforts, gender equality and the empowerment of women, social development, youth, the sustainable development goals, and climate change.
- 2027 – A high-level review of the Global Digital Compact.
- 2028 – A high-level plenary meeting on Future Generations.
- 2028 – A Heads of State and Government meeting for a comprehensive review of the Pact for the Future.
Effective follow-up and implementation require coordination and close collaboration across the UN system, with Member States, and with key stakeholders – at the global, regional, and national levels. If successful, this will result in a reinvigorated multilateral system fit for today and tomorrow – effective and capable, prepared for the future, just, democratic, equitable, and representative of today’s world; inclusive, interconnected, and financially stable. A system that delivers a better future for all.
This is a once-in-a-generation effort to improve how the world works. The UN is ready, and the work is underway.
