To mark the 80th anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) convened a Global Policy Dialogue to discuss the future direction of sustainable development. Members of the UN High-level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs (HLAB) explored avenues for achieving and maintaining inclusive, sustainable, and forward-looking development towards and beyond 2030.

Focusing on the theme, ‘Charting New Directions: Shaping the Future of Sustainable Development,’ the Global Policy Dialogue sought to demonstrate how global cooperation can accelerate progress, strengthen resilience, and ensure no one is left behind. The event featured three thematic panels, where experts shared perspectives on reimagining economics to foster social inclusion, identify emerging trends, and envision sustainable development beyond 2030 in the light of global transformations.

In his opening remarks, Li Junhua, UN Under-Secretary-General on Economic and Social Affairs, invited participants to challenge conventional assumptions and reimagine sustainable development for decades to come. He outlined the need to rethink growth models, mobilize finance, and harness technologies and to reflect on how societies can embrace diversity, fairness, and sustainability while leaving no one behind.

Shakuntala Santhiran moderated the event. She called attention to DESA’s October 2025 report reflecting on eight decades of progress towards sustainable development for all.

Panel discussion on the new economics of social inclusion focused on what is needed to drive inclusive economic growth, including expanded access to education and decent jobs, international cooperation and financial reforms, stronger social protection systems, and fairer fiscal and tax policies.

Jayati Ghosh, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, said a change in mindset is needed to make the economy serve people and the planet. She recommended regulating labor, capital, and financial markets “to ensure some don’t profit excessively,” redistributing wealth through public revenues, and taxing corporations and the super wealthy.

Underscoring the critical role of international cooperation in reframing the rules of the global financial architecture, Ghosh highlighted the importance of coalitions in driving change, even “if a few powerful countries resist.” She emphasized the need for tax cooperation even without a global tax agreement.

Fadhel Kaboub, President, Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity, and Associate Professor of Economics, Denison University, stressed the need to transform the global economic and geopolitical hierarchy to move away from colonial structures designed for extractive purposes towards a multi-polar world with the Global South at the center of the international economic order. Kaboub said fiscal constraints most developing countries struggle with are due to external debt driven by food, energy, and manufacturing value added deficits. He called for strategic investments in food and renewable energy sovereignty and for sharing life-saving technologies.

Eudine Barriteau, former Cave Hill Campus Principal and Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Emerita, University of West Indies Cave Hill Campus, called for institutions and policies with gender justice and social inclusion at their core to help the world move closer to achieving development goals. She said women’s participation in the economy increases gross domestic product (GDP), improves lives, and supports cohesive and stable societies.

Danny Sriskandarajah, Chief Executive of the New Economics Foundation, former Chief Executive of Oxfam, and former Secretary General and CEO of CIVICUS, said “we’re at a tipping point around orthodoxies about how the economy works.” He called for “radical new thinking,” a green transition that ensures community ownership, and cooperatives for digital tools.

Responding to questions from the audience, panelists recommended:

• Changing conditions on the ground through strong institutions;
• Placing economies in the service of human flourishing;
• A “lifecycle approach” to supporting people with disabilities; and
• Disciplining capital while engaging the private sector.

Panel discussion on future frontiers and insights on emerging trends addressed artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transformation, climate adaptation and resilience, shifting trust in multilateralism, and demographic shifts and migration.

Parfait Eloundou-Enyegue, Professor of Global Development at Brooks School of Policy, Cornell University, described AI as a “giga-trend” in terms of depth (affecting the entire world), breadth (carrying deep impacts across many sectors), and length (having lasting effects).

Noting “we’re on the brink of major societal transformation,” he said we have the tools to domesticate and steer trends. Eloundou-Enyegue called for seeing trends as neutral, thinking systemically and creatively about the big picture, and carrying out implementation nimbly by drawing on best practices.

David Christopher Smith, Director, Centre for Environmental Management, The University of the West Indies, and Coordinator, Institute for Sustainable Development, University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica, emphasized the importance of paying attention to slow, insidious changes driven by global warming, such as changing rain patterns and increasing instances of extreme heat, with implications for human health and productivity.

Xiaolan Fu, Professor of Technology and International Development, University of Oxford, said each major trend brings challenges and opportunities. She underlined the need to use AI for inclusive and sustainable development and to strengthen AI’s domestic and international governance to minimize its negative impacts. Highlighting the UN’s “unique position” to unite countries in strengthening governance of digital technologies, she proposed developing a UN Hub to promote inclusive adoption of AI.

Alex Ezeh, Professor at Drexel University, Dornsife School of Public Health, and Former Director of African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), outlined the challenges presented by demographic shifts driven by declining fertility, ageing, and migration, with impacts on all sectors and aspects of society. To utilize demographic shifts for development, he emphasized the need to understand why fertility is falling and to create opportunities “to keep people in their countries.”

Raya Muttarak, Professor of Demography, University of Bologna, drew attention to the role of conflicts in exacerbating trends such as climate change and food insecurity and how these risks affect different people differently. To foster trust in multilateralism, she said the UN has a role in: providing reliable data; learning from best practice, such as the Montreal Protocol; and coordinating efforts.

Responding to questions from the audience, panelists underscored the need for education to encompass human, social, domestic, and personal capital, and recommended using education to understand the origins of the challenges and to explore ways to build resilience.

Panel discussion on the next era of sustainable development reflected on the core principles and priorities to inform the next global development framework, including centering human well-being and equity, strengthening global cooperation and solidarity, safeguarding planetary boundaries, and measuring progress beyond GDP.

Anastasia Gage, Professor at the Department of Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, called for: deeper commitment to addressing root causes of inequality, discrimination, and prejudice; creating opportunities for decent work; tackling climate change and disasters; and establishing fair systems that leave no one behind. She said the UN needs to use its power to ensure goals’ systematic implementation for them to “trickle down” to people and communities.

Martin Kimani, CEO of the Africa Center, New York, said young people who are shaping the future should use the UN to turn their demands into universal change. He cautioned against replacing “despair” at institutions with extremism and called for fact- and science-based policies prioritizing people over capital.

To integrate Beyond GDP in real-life policies, Jose Antonio Ocampo, Professor, Columbia University, stressed the need for further improvement in the methodology to account for economic, social, and environmental issues, noting that such metrics are a complement to, not a substitute for, GDP. He outlined the need for: a better system of cooperation on financing for development (FfD) to meet the Sevilla Commitment at scale; a fair international trading system; and an agreement on international migration. He said the UN should be at the head of these processes.

Among principles to keep in mind as we approach a post-2030 agenda, Åsa Persson, Strategic Advisor and Researcher, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Climate Action Centre, and Chair of the Swedish Climate Policy Council, highlighted: integration of the environment, society, and the economy; sustainability of development over time; and measurability to hold governments accountable. She said a beyond 2030 agenda needs to pay more attention to the Earth system’s tipping points and the non-linear, exponential change they prompt if crossed.

Responding to questions from the audience, panelists acknowledged the need to:

• Incorporate Indigenous knowledge and address where knowledge is produced;
• Mainstream localization; and
• Explore how AI and other emerging technologies will affect the world of work and educate future generations accordingly.

Navid Hanif, UN Assistant-Secretary-General for Economic Development, provided closing remarks. Highlighting the difference in mindsets between generations, he recognized calls for accountability for implementation gaps, youth exclusion, and the absence of a sense of urgency in achieving the SDGs emanating both “from the streets” and from within the UN. Highlighting the UN as the place for dialogue and trust building to advance global solutions, Hanif emphasized the urgent need for immediate actions and architectural changes.

The Global Policy Dialogue convened at UN Headquarters in New York, US, on 24 October 2025, with in-person and virtual participation. [DESA Global Policy Dialogue: Charting New Directions: Shaping the Future of Sustainable Development] [Programme] [Event Recording] [SDG Knowledge Hub Sources]