The upcoming Summit of the Future is an opportunity to shift our path away from fossil fuels and build a better world for our children.

We stand on the brink of a defining moment in human history. The decisions we make today will shape the world our children and their children will inherit. As we approach the Summit of the Future to be held on September 22-23 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York and consider the Pact for the Future, prepared by governments under the baton of the UN, we must confront an uncomfortable truth: the continued exploitation of fossil fuels is not just an environmental issue – it’s a brazen theft of our collective future.

The recent surge in fossil fuel company profits – a staggering $281bn since the Ukraine war began – may be celebrated by the industry, but for the rest of us, they are a stark reminder of a system that prioritises short-term gains for the few over the long-term survival of us all.

These profits are not just numbers on a balance sheet; they represent stolen opportunities, fires that burn up homes, fumes that poison our bodies, deadly heatwaves that kill indiscriminately, and vanishing coastlines that displace whole communities: a destabilised climate that threatens the very fabric of our societies.

The Summit of the Future and the Pact for the Future offer us a unique opportunity to rewrite our story. These initiatives recognise that the wellbeing of future generations must be at the heart of our decision-making today. They call for a world of peace, solidarity, and dignity – a world that is simply incompatible with the continued dominance of fossil fuels.

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