Looking forward to United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week

The United Nations will host hundreds of world leaders, policymakers, experts and advocates in September for the High-Level week of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA). The week of 21 to 28 September will have a busy schedule of Summits and high-level events mandated by UNGA resolutions and the United Nations Secretary-General.

The first day of the high-level General Debate of the UNGA will be Tuesday, 24 September. Principal among the events that will precede the first day of General Debate is the Summit of the Future on 22 and 23 September. A high-level event on the Existential Threats of Sea-Level Rise will be held afterwards on 25 September.

The WMO Office in New York is working with partners to secure opportunities to showcase WMO activities and priorities, including Early Warnings for All and the Global Greenhouse Gas Watch, in different side-events and exhibitions. Permanent Representatives to the WMO who would like to learn more about UNGA High-Level Week, or who are planning to come to New York as part of your national delegations, are invited to contact the WMO New York office (wmony@wmo.int).

Summit of the Future

This high-level Summit will bring world leaders together to forge a new international consensus on how we deliver a better present and safeguard the future. This “once-in-a-generation” opportunity is intended to mend eroded trust and demonstrate that international cooperation can effectively tackle immediate and emerging challenges as well as those that may yet be over the horizon.

Existing agreements and commitments, starting with the UN Charter and including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, the Paris Agreement of the UN Framework Convention on Climate, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development and many others, serve the "purpose". The Summit of the Future will look at the “how”. How do we cooperate better to deliver on the aspiration and goals we have committed to? How do we better meet the needs of the present while also preparing for the challenges of the future?

The aim of the Summit is twofold: accelerate efforts to meet our existing international commitments and take concrete steps to respond to emerging challenges and opportunities. This will be achieved through an action-oriented outcome document called the Pact for the Future. The Pact will be negotiated and endorsed by countries in the lead-up to and during the Summit. Two negotiated outcomes will be annexed to the Pact, one will be a Global Digital Compact, the other will be a Declaration for Future Generations. WMO is working to ensure language related to its mandate is reflected in the outcome documents.

Immediately prior to the Summit, on 20 and 21 September, the United Nations will convene two Future Action Days, to generate additional opportunities for the engagement of all actors. The first, on 20 September, will focus on Youth, while 21 September will focus on Digital Futures, Peaceful Futures and Sustainable Futures for All.

This year, the WMO-led United in Science report – which will be launched in the margins of the Summit – will connect with several key Summit-related themes.

Existential Threats of Sea-Level Rise

On 25 September, the General Assembly has decided to hold a high-level meeting to address the threats posed by sea-level rise. The event will consider the science of sea-level rise and its impacts on sustainable development and cultural heritage as well as the legal issues that relate to the existential threats that sea-level rise poses for some low-lying countries. WMO is working to ensure the activities of its Members are represented in this event.

Climate Week NYC 2024 – It’s time!

Climate Week NYC is the largest annual climate event of its kind, hosting over 600 events and activities across the City of New York – in-person, hybrid and online. Each year, business leaders, political change makers, local decision takers and civil society representatives of all ages and backgrounds from around the world gather to drive the transition, speed-up progress, and champion change that is already happening.

Climate Week NYC is hosted by Climate Group, an international non-profit whose purpose is to drive climate action, fast. Climate Group hosts the week’s official program, which brings together senior international figures from business, Government, civil society and the climate sector.

This year, Climate Week NYC is being held from 22–29 September. The event takes place every year in partnership with the UNGA and is run in coordination with the United Nations and the City of New York.