The Summit of Fearful Odds? – Validating the UN’s Struggle for Relevance in International Affairs
Richard Gowan is UN Director of the International Crisis Group and an Associate Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. You may follow him on X @RichardGowan1.
Time and Tide
Peter Thomson is the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, having previously served as President of the UN General Assembly and Permanent Representative of Fiji to the UN.
Urgent Need for Equitable Solutions – Addressing the Environmental Crisis and Climate Change
Ramón Pichs-Madruga is Director of the Centre for World Economy Studies (CIEM) in Havana, Cuba, and a Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Kickstarting the Impact Revolution – How PPPPs Amplify Impact Investing in Asia
Poman Lo is Founder of the Institute of Sustainability and Technology, Vice Chair of the Century City Holdings, Managing Director of Regal Hotels Group, and Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Hong Kong.
Closing the Loop – Harnessing Circular Economy Strategies for Climate Change Mitigation
Sabeka Ismaeel is a Research Analyst at the Bahrain Center for Strategic, International, and Energy Studies (Derasat).
Back to the Future
Sergey Rybakov is Program Director of Ecumene, a global financial forum and discussion club, and CEO of the environmental “Nature and People” Foundation, having formerly served as an Advisor to the CEO of MDM Bank in Moscow.
Building the Future Federation – The Rising Calls for Sovereign AI
David L. Shrier is a Professor of Practice, AI and Innovation, with Imperial College London, where he is co-Director of the Trusted AI Alliance (a multi-university collaborative focused on building responsible & trustworthy AI), and author of Basic AI: A Human Guide to Artificial Intelligence (2024). This essay was written with the assistance of, but not exclusively by, ChatGPT. The individual ideas were originated by humans and elaborated upon by machine. It is also indebted to contributions from coauthors on the in-process white paper being developed regarding Sovereign AI: Aldo Faisal, Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye, Ayisha Piotti, and Alex Pentland.
Beyond Hegemony – A New International Order Under the UN Charter
Jeffrey D. Sachs is University Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. He has been advisor to three UN Secretaries-General, and currently serves as an SDG Advocate under Secretary-General António Guterres.
Bridging a Fractured World – The Pact of the Future
H.E. Ms. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés is a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Defense of Ecuador and the first woman from Latin America and the Caribbean to have served as President of the UN General Assembly (2018-2019). With more than 30 years of experience in multilateral diplomacy, she currently serves as President of Cities Alliance, Executive Director of Global Women Leaders for Change and Inclusion, GWLvoices, and a member of many leading international organizations, including the International Crisis Group, the UN Alliance of Civilizations, the UN Advisory Board on Human Security, the Nizami Ganjavi International Center, and the World Commission on the Economics of Water. You may follow her on X @mfespinosaEC.
A Stable Planet is a Prerequisite for Development: Sustainable or Otherwise
Johan Rockström is Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Professor in Earth System Science at the University of Potsdam. You may follow him on X @jrockstrom. Lila Warszawski is a post-doctoral Research Scientist at PIK and a Research Analyst for the Institute’s Director. Antonia Schuster is the Strategic Advisor to the Director of PIK.