Our Common Agenda | United Nations

Our Common Agenda

Our Common Agenda is the Secretary-General's vision for the future of global cooperation. It calls for inclusive, networked, and effective multilateralism to better respond and deliver for the people and planet and to get the world back on track by turbocharging action on the Sustainable Development Goals. It outlines possible solutions to address the gaps and risks that have emerged since 2015, calling for a Summit of the Future that will be held in 2024.

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Engage on the Declaration on Future Generations

The choices we make, or fail to make, today could result in breakdown or a breakthrough to a greener, better, safer future. The choice is ours to make.

ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
Secretary-General Portrait

Background

We request the Secretary-General to report back before the end of the seventy-fifth session of the General Assembly with recommendations to advance our common agenda and to respond to current and future challenges”

- Declaration on the commemoration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations (September 2020)

On the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Member States pledged to strengthen global governance for present and future generations. They requested that the Secretary-General report back with recommendations to respond to current and future challenges (UN75 declaration - A/RES/75/1). In September 2021, the Secretary-General responded with his report, Our Common Agenda, a wake-up call to speed up the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and propel the commitments contained in the UN75 Declaration.

In some cases, the proposals addressed gaps that emerged since 2015, requiring new intergovernmental agreements. The report, therefore, called for a Summit of the Future to forge a new global consensus on readying ourselves for a future rife with risks but also opportunities.

The General Assembly welcomed the submission of Our Common Agenda and passed a resolution to hold the Summit on 22-23 September 2024, preceded by a ministerial meeting in 2023. An action-oriented Pact for the Future is expected to be agreed by Member States through intergovernmental negotiations on issues they decide to take forward.

The Our Common Agenda report

In September 2021, responding to a request from the General Assembly in its UN75 declaration, the Secretary-General released his Our Common Agenda report.

Cover of Our Common Agenda

We must recognize that humanity’s very future depends on solidarity, trust, and our ability to work together as a global family to achieve common goals. No community or country, however powerful, can solve its challenges alone. Multilateral action has achieved an enormous amount over the past 75 years. Our Common Agenda must be a starting point for ideas and initiatives that build on these achievements."

Read the report

Our Common Agenda is aimed at turbocharging the 2030 Agenda and making the Sustainable Development Goals real in the lives of people everywhere. Because halfway to 2030, we are far off track. We will only make up lost ground by addressing the gaps and challenges that have emerged since 2015 – including gaps in intergovernmental cooperation."

Remarks by the Secretary-General
February 2023 (02:59:36)


Recommendations

The report made a number of recommendations across four broad areas, across the 12 commitments of the UN75 Declaration and acting as a booster shot on the Sustainable Development Goals:

— 1 —

A renewal of the social contract, anchored in human rights, to rebuild trust and social cohesion




View the infographic in the report

— 2 —

A focus on the future, through a deepening of solidarity with the world’s young people and future generations




View the infographic in the report

Engage in the process towards the Declaration on Future Generations

— 3 —

Urgent action to protect and deliver global commons and global public goods through a more networked, inclusive and effective multilateralism.



View the infographic in the report

— 4 —

An upgraded UN that is fit for a new era and can offer more relevant, system-wide, multilateral and multi-stakeholder solutions to the challenges of the 21st century.


More on the Quintet of Change

Full report, including accessible ePub format, available here

Key Proposals

Key proposals from the Our Common Agenda report
across the 12 commitments made by Member States in the UN75 declaration

In the Declaration on the Commemoration of the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the United Nations, Heads of State and Government, guided by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and the goal to ensure the future we want, and the United Nations we need, announced the following commitments:

  • We will leave no one behind
  • We will protect our planet
  • We will promote peace and prevent conflict
  • We will abide by international law and ensure justice
  • We will place women and girls at the center
  • We will build trust
  • We will improve digital cooperation
  • We will upgrade the United Nations
  • We will ensure sustainable financing
  • We will boost partnerships
  • We will listen to and work with youth
  • We will be prepared

PDF version

Common Agenda Key Proposals