AN INITIATIVE OF THE COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS connecting leading global foreign policy institutes
The most pressing issues facing the world today are rapidly evolving. The environmental effects of climate change are accelerating and threatening the health and livelihoods of millions. Emerging technologies have few guardrails, despite the rapidpace of their development, causing far-reaching implications for labor, health, privacy, and ethics. Five years away from the 2030 deadline, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are abysmally off target as the world witnesses growing wealth disparity, widespread hunger, and inadequate medical infrastructure, especially in conflict zones. The past year also saw national elections in over sixty countries, leading, in some cases, to questions about the state of democracy.
Global summits give leaders an opportunity to come together to advance solutions and prepare responses, but can they keep up with the pace at which the world’s most urgent problems are intensifying? Below are the most anticipated summits set for 2025, where newly elected leaders, increased participation from the Global South and emerging powers, and reframed conversations could help answer that question.
Technology will once again be on the agenda at the World Economic Forum’s meeting in January. Global leaders in business, government, and civil society will meet in Davos to explore ways to ensure emerging technologies facilitate a more inclusive global economy, better adapt to geoeconomic shifts, increase development of human capital, spur a more sustainable and green economy, and build a more reliable and equitable global economic order. Discussions will also likely be framed by the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Risks Report, released annually ahead of the conference in January. As one of the largest and most anticipated convenings of political and economic leaders, the discussions in and around this summit provide the clearest snapshots of the public and private sectors’ immediate priorities.
Meeting at a venue in the Canadian Rockies, the Group of Seven (G7) summit is slated to prioritize moving toward more inclusive economies, combating the growing negative effects of climate change, and regulating emerging technologies. Host Canada made contributions on each of those fronts at the 2024 G7 summit in Puglia, Italy, including leading funding and various initiatives for the International Fund for Agricultural Development, climate resiliency and finance, the transition to global clean energy, sustainable development in the Global South, and the AI for Development program. The G7 Apulia Leaders’ Communiqué from 2024 also emphasized their commitment to cooperation with Africa on global infrastructure and security, supporting Ukraine, and addressing the root causes of migration, which are issues of paramount importance for European G7 members. While it is likely that the 2025 summit will continue where Italy’s summit left off on migration issues and Ukraine, it is also likely that security and stability in the Middle East will have a particular focus on the agenda. At the same time, new heads of government will be attending the summit, so priorities may shift as new administrations take the stage.
Ocean conservation efforts are taking on growing urgency with climate change’s effects felt increasingly around the world, especially by millions of people living in coastal regions and island nations. The ocean is absorbing an exorbitant amount of heat due to global warming, which poses a severe threat to biodiversity and can cause bleached coral reefs, reduced fish supply, rising sea levels, and an increased threat of natural disasters. Cohosted by France and Costa Rica on the Mediterranean coast, the 2025 UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3) will be the first since the 2022 conference in Lisbon, Portugal. The 2025 conference will also be the first since the historic Agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction—commonly known as BBNJ or the High Seas Treaty—opened for signature; the treaty and its provisions will likely be a topic of discussion at the summit. The High Seas Treaty is the first international treaty focusing on governance measures for ocean conservation in waters beyond national boundaries. UNOC3 aims to support the implementation of the fourteenth SDG focused on conserving and sustainably using the oceans, seas, and marine resources. The conference’s Ocean Action Panels will bring together member states, UN agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and private companies to encourage commitments to ocean conservation. The conference will culminate in adopting the Nice Ocean Action Plan as a voluntary declaration. Planned alongside UNOC3 will be three side events in Nice and Monaco—the One Ocean Science Congress, the Ocean Rise & Resilience Coalition, and the Blue Economy and Finance Forum—all aimed at focusing high-level attention to rising sea levels, the ocean economy, and ocean health and sustainability.
When the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) meets this year in The Hague, Netherlands, defense spending commitments and continued Russian aggression will be on the minds of decision-makers. Moreover, the state of transatlantic relations under a new administration in Washington and other capitals will be closely watched.
The alliance has recently made strides in defense spending, with twenty-three of the thirty-two member countries now meeting the defense spending commitment of 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). But as the conflict in Ukraine wears on and the resolve of U.S. politicians to continue the same levels of material support runs thin, increasing this commitment past the 2 percent expectation could be up for discussion. The summit will also be an opportunity for NATO to refine its messaging under new leadership. In his first major speech as NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte said that the group must “shift to a wartime mindset and turbo charge our defense production and defense spending.”
This year marks the eightieth meeting of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), and the world’s largest annual convening of high-level leaders and civil society will have much to discuss. Displacement, conflict, poverty, and hunger are on the rise, and the SDGs set out by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are woefully off-track.
The UN is taking steps to bolster multilateral cooperation on the SDGs and recommit member countries to meeting these goals. This year’s summit will be an opportunity to take stock of the impact of last year’s Pact of the Future, adopted to address issues of development, peace and security, technology, and youth empowerment. To further bolster momentum, the UN will be hosting a Second World Summit for Social Development in November. Hosted by Qatar, this convening will revisit commitments made at the first summit of the same name held thirty years ago.
This year’s UN summit also marks the return of Donald Trump to the forum. His past speeches at the assembly have stressed his America First policy, the might of the U.S. military and economy, and his administration’s achievements. Exactly what posture the new Trump administration will take toward the body remains to be seen, but if past serves as prologue, we may expect a leader who is skeptical of the global organization and the dues the United States contributes.
The thirtieth meeting of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), known as COP30, meets in Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest to put special emphasis on the threat rising greenhouse gas emissions pose to the crucial habitat. The host country, headed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has indicated he will expect state representatives to come into the conference with renewed plans for emissions reduction.
Expectations will be high for COP30 after a disappointing COP29 that, despite agreements made on energy storage and carbon markets, resulted in developing nations feeling let down by the financial pledges from richer countries, rushed negotiations, and an open letter calling for COP reform signed by notable current and former UN officials, heads of state, NGO executives, and other civil society stakeholders.
Based on the first Trump administration, many climate experts do not expect the U.S. to take a leadership role in this year’s negotiations, and the President-elect has signaled that he will once again withdraw the United States from the Paris agreement.
The Group of Twenty (G20) summit will be held in an African nation for the first time and follows the admission of the African Union last year to this annual meeting of leading and emerging economies. Taking place in Johannesburg, this will be the fourth consecutive year that a country in the Global South has held the presidency. To that point, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has put forth an agenda under the theme “Solidarity, Equality, and Sustainability” that builds on items addressed at recent G20 meetings in Brazil, India, and Indonesia.
South Africa’s G20 agenda seeks to address issues that are especially important to emerging economies and will focus on climate change-related disaster resilience, debt relief for developing countries, and the mobilization of finance for a just energy transition. There will also be task forces on inclusive economic growth, food security, and technology governance.
However, 2026’s agenda could look quite different for the bloc, whose economies account for around 75 percent of international trade, as the G20 presidency shifts to the United States. When asked about potential disruption if the new Trump administration brings an America First and climate skeptic agenda, Ramaphosa responded that there are sufficient shock absorbers put in place for the G20 to be able to function.
The 2025 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit will set in motion a twenty-year roadmap prioritizing sustainable development, climate change, digitalization, and gender equality—all urgent topics for the bloc. The summit is also expected to have an economic focus, with Malaysia announcing fifteen priority economic deliverables, as well as the expected conclusions to updated trade agreements, such as the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement.
At the same time, the ASEAN members will have to find ways to address other pressing issues, most notably civil war in Myanmar and tensions in the South China Sea. The outlook for advancing any positive change in Myanmar is bleak considering the impotence and poor implementation of ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus on Myanmar. Malaysia will likely find it difficult to navigate the fraught dynamics in the South China Sea, but it stands a relatively greater chance of improving tensions due to its position as the current country coordinator for ASEAN-China relations. At the same time, Malaysia’s relative closeness to China could exacerbate tensions among ASEAN countries who are more distrustful China, such as the Philippines or Vietnam.
The East Asia Summit (EAS), which typically follows the annual ASEAN summit, will provide an opportunity for the United States and China to meet among a broader range of nations. This EAS will be the first of President-Elect Donald Trump’s second administration, so watching potential outcomes between his conversations with China’s President Xi could be worthwhile.
Brazil, which hosted the Group of Twenty (G20) summit in 2024, will host the BRICS summit in the next year. The summit will welcome its four newest members and thirteen “partner countries,” for the second time and will likely look into further expanding the bloc. Over thirty other countries, such as Bangladesh and Venezuela, have expressed interest in joining, demonstrating the rapidly growing interest in the bloc from the Global South, which largely sees the group as an alternative to Western-dominated institutions. However the group continues to expand, it will be looking to further solidify its connections with Global South countries.
Much of Brazil’s G20 agenda is expected to carry over into the BRICS summit, particularly its economic priorities. Brazil’s finance minister has said that while official proposals for the summit’s priorities will be outlined in the new year, it is expected that modernizing the Bretton Woods institutions and further developing projects from the New Development Bank to invest in Global South infrastructure and local currencies, such as the BRICS Cross-Border Payment System, will be top of mind. Tax reform, climate finance and sustainability, and fighting systemic poverty are also expected to remain on the agenda.
Despite widespread dependence on access to satellites, the world lacks the governance and international frameworks to protect those assets and access to them. The UN World Space Forum brings governments, companies, and nongovernmental organizations together for an opportunity to engage in much-needed dialogue on how to best integrate all stakeholders’ voices in an equitable and inclusive way. The 2025 UN World Space Forum is expected to build on the 2024 forum—“Sustainable Space for Sustainability on Earth”—and discuss implementing sections of the Pact of the Future pertaining to space. The 2025 forum will also likely feature the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) conducting its 2025 midterm review of the Space2030 Agenda, which lays out ways that space assets can be used to achieve the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals.
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