As the United Nations prepares for the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, the general public seems dangerously unaware of the UN's plans for the "Summit of the Future". It is at the Summit where member states are expected to declare a "planetary emergency" as part of the so-called "Pact for the Future".

Although the UNGA is an annual meeting, this year's gathering is unique because of the addition of the Summit of the Future, which will take place in New York City on the 22nd and 23rd of September. The summit has been in the making since at least 2022 after repeated calls by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to shift financial resources to rapidly complete the Agenda 2030 goals set by the UN in 2015.

In September 2021, the Secretary-General released his report, Our Common Agenda, which called for accelerating the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the commitments contained in the UN75 Declaration. Our Common Agenda also called for a Summit of the Future to "forge a new global consensus on readying ourselves for a future that is rife with risks but also opportunities".