Addressing the UN General Assembly (UNGA), UN Secretary-General António Guterres briefed Member States on his priorities for 2025. He highlighted conflicts, inequalities, the climate crisis, and technology among the “ills” spreading from “the modern-day Pandora’s box” that need to be tackled through acceleration and transformation, oriented around the Pact for the Future, the implementation of which, he said, will be a central priority in 2025.

To promote peace, which he described as “the raison d’être” of the UN, the Secretary-General urged Member States to advance the Pact for the Future’s commitments on: prioritizing conflict prevention, mediation, and resolution, along with peacebuilding; continuing to strengthen peacekeeping; and supporting the meaningful inclusion of women in political and peace processes. He highlighted commitments around fostering nuclear disarmament, new strategies to end the use of chemical and biological weapons, and efforts to prevent an arms race in outer space and advance discussions on the use of lethal autonomous weapons. Guterres also underscored the need for an updated understanding of the impact of today’s arms race on sustainable development.

The Secretary-General urged Member States to address inequalities by committing to “policies that promote equity.” He called for accelerating action to achieve the SDGs in the five years that remain until 2030 by focusing on high-impact areas, including poverty eradication, food security, quality education for all, social protection, universal health coverage (UHC), energy access, and digitalization – with a particular focus on Africa.

Citing the Pact for the Future’s “clear support” for an SDG Stimulus, Guterres emphasized finance as essential in helping close the SDG financing gap, currently estimated at USD 4 trillion annually. He said the Pact “calls on donors to meet official development assistance (ODA) commitments and for the private sector to invest in sustainable development.” 

Underscoring the role global financial architecture reform plays in fighting inequalities, the Secretary-General said the institutions of global finance must “represent today’s economy – not that of 1945,” with developing countries represented fairly in their governance. Drawing attention to the recently established expert group to promote policy solutions to resolve debt crisis, he called for strengthening the global safety net by:

  • increasing multilateral development banks’ (MDBs) lending capacity;
  • deploying concessional finance;
  • helping countries in debt distress free up fiscal space to invest in the SDGs; and
  • strengthening the sovereign debt architecture to enable countries to “borrow with confidence.”

Among this year’s opportunities “to achieve breakthroughs on the SDGs,” Guterres identified the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), the Second World Summit for Social Development, the Group of 20 (G20) Summit under the Presidency of South Africa, the UN Climate Change Conference in Brazil, the Third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3), and the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69), also known as ‘Beijing Plus-30.’

He also called on Member States to fight inequalities by expanding opportunities for women and girls, strengthening the participation of young people in decision making, and fostering “communities of belonging” while addressing disinformation and hate speech.

The Secretary-General outlined “a huge opportunity” to tackle the climate crisis and achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change. Noting that before the Paris Agreement, we were on a trajectory to over 4°C of warming by the end of the century, he acknowledged that “we are slowly bending down the curve.” “The renewables revolution is unstoppable,” Guterres underscored, and 90% of the world has committed to net zero.

Urging Member States “to shift our collective efforts into overdrive,” the Secretary-General said “global emissions must peak this year and rapidly decline thereafter if we are to have a sliver of a hope of limiting long-term global temperature rise to 1.5°C.” Guterres stressed the need for nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to cover all sectors and all greenhouse gases (GHGs), cut emissions 60% by 2035 compared to 2019 levels, have clear reduction targets for fossil fuel production and consumption, and show how every country will contribute to the global goals on deforestation and the energy transition. He called for the G20 to lead, “given the scale of their emissions,” and for businesses, financial institutions, cities, regions, and civil society “to come with credible 1.5°C-aligned transition plans, in line with [the] Integrity Matters report.”

Warning that “[t]he battle for 1.5°C cannot be won without a fast, fair and funded fossil-fuel phase-out worldwide,” Guterres said “we must deliver on climate finance across the board – including through international financial architecture reform” and mobilize USD 1.3 trillion a year to support climate action in developing countries. He further called on developed countries to double adaptation finance to “at least USD 40 billion a year this year” and emphasized the need to transform the world’s approach to loss and damage by giving “a major boost” to the loss and damage fund.

Acknowledging unprecedented opportunities offered by the technological revolution, the Secretary-General highlighted “a historic responsibility to make sure this revolution benefits humanity, not just a privileged few,” in line with a road map provided by the Global Digital Compact. Guterres called for rapid and decisive action by the UN to:

  • ensure equal access to the latest artificial intelligence (AI) knowledge and insights, urging the UNGA to establish an Independent International Scientific Panel on AI;
  • foster AI governance that protects human rights while promoting innovation, calling for the UNGA to initiate the process for a Global Dialogue on AI Governance; and
  • support developing countries in leveraging AI for sustainable development through a new UN Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies, indicating he will soon present a report on innovative voluntary financing models and capacity-building initiatives to help the Global South harness AI for the greater good.

The Secretary-General concluded by urging Member States “to build the more peaceful, just and prosperous world that we know… is within reach.” [UN Secretary-General’s Briefing to UNGA Meeting on the Priorities of the Organization for 2025] [Meetings Coverage: 15 January 2025] [UN News Story]