Though long forewarned by climate scientists, humanity has now crossed the 1.5°C Climate Rubicon, contributing, in 2024 alone, to 604 extreme weather events. Global wildlife populations have declined by 73 percent since 1970, while air pollution is the second leading risk factor for death globally.
Meanwhile, despite last September’s successful adoption by world leaders of a Pact for the Future to rebuild trust and address gaps in global governance, the United Nations now faces extreme budgetary and political pressures. This will severely hamper the world body’s ability to help nations and their citizens effectively cope with the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, as well as multiple other threats and challenges in the closely related realms of development, security, technology, and human rights.
In Global Governance Innovation Report 2025: Advancing the Pact for the Future and Environmental Governance, the authors present the first authoritative progress review of the Pact, while offering novel pathways for implementing its ambitious 56 Actions, as well as the Global Digital Compact and Declaration on Future Generations.
It further introduces out-of-the-box thinking for consideration this November at COP30 in Belém and other environmental policy fora. Together, the Pact for the Future and COP30 offer an urgent and rare chance to revitalize global governance at a time of converging crises and geopolitical fragmentation.
Their success will hinge on a sustained commitment, innovative coordination, and inclusive follow-through grounded in lessons from past reform efforts—for which this report contributes abundant empirical evidence.
