Climate crisis to AI: Challenges facing the future of humanity

THis twelvemonth simon marks the 80th day of remembrance of the United Nations. Piece thither are numerous challenges that the world is facing, including serious questions relating to the credibility and legitimacy of the UN as a multilateral institution, it will be useful to recall the words of Dag Hammarskjöld, former UN Secretary General, who poignantly observed about the UN in 1954, “…it was not meant to take mankind to heaven but to save humanity from hell…”. In a similar vein, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the UN in 2025, Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, “Eight decades later, one can draw a direct line between the creation of the United Nations and the prevention of a third world war.” It is indeed an opportune time to discuss the future of humanity and how we can transform tomorrow. I believe there are five critical issues that need global attention for transforming tomorrow.One, strengthening the rule of law, democracy and justice institutions. The fragility of the rule of law and the eroding trust in democracy and justice institutions worldwide has been a major challenge that requires attention. We need to work towards strengthening the rule of law mechanisms so that societies are able to build trust in individuals and institutions to sustain democracy in the age of misinformation, polarisation, and scepticism. Worldwide, important measures of media freedom, civil liberties, and democratic quality have either stagnated or declined during the last two decades, as per various global indices. India’s constitutional democracy and independent judiciary is a living experiment for democratic governance in managing scale, diversity, expectations, and disagreement. The world does look up to India while recognising that democracy and development could go hand in hand.Two, building climate resilience and prioritising sustainable development. The challenge of climate change is not a problem of tomorrow; it is already here. But any effort to transform tomorrow requires concerted and sincere responses to addressing climate change. We need to build climate resilience through technology and global public policy, but this will be effective only if it is matched with changes in our consumption patterns, use of resources, and work towards sustainable development. India’s CO₂ emissions from fuel combustion per person (energy and process) is approximately one third of the global average and among the lowest in the world as a per capita analysis – India: 0.259 tonnes; China: 8.89 tonnes; US: 14.21 tonnes; Japan: 8.66 tonnes; Germany: 8.01 tonnes. India could be a global leader for promoting sustainable growth as a strong voice of the Global South in recognising that climate finance, technology transfer, scientific know-how, and green technologies are not charitable and benevolent endeavours but constitute historical responsibility for climate justice. This will enable countries across the Global South to transition from a carbon-intensive development model to a green, resilient development model.Three, building an AI-enabled world where technology could be a force for common good.The speed with which the world of AI is shaping tomorrow is incredible. But to what extent this technology will impact the future will depend on our abilities to make AI a force for the common good. One of the most important challenges of the future will not only be about who has data, bandwidth, and technology, but who exercises the control and reaps the benefit of artificial intelligence – AI, algorithmic, scientific, technological, and digital public infrastructure. India has been a global leader in democratising technology and providing access to technology through broadening the beneficiaries of the digital public infrastructure, with success through Aadhaar, UPI, ONDC, CoWIN, and other digital public goods. India has more than 900 million internet users, making it one of the largest digitally engaged societies in the world. UPI transactions in India have crossed over 10 billion a month, with more than a 10x growth in the last 5 years. India is in a position to shape the global AI discourse with a stronger emphasis on ethical AI for development, democratisation and access to AI, and most importantly, for AI to contribute toward the common good.Four, learning to overcome the skills crisis for transition from school to future-readiness. There is undoubtedly a skills crisis in the world, and the Global South is disproportionately and adversely impacted. We need to transform our education institutions’ focus on future-readiness. The global challenge is about learning, skilling, and adaptability at a time when jobs are being reinvented faster than the speed by which education systems can respond. The World Bank has estimated that over half of children in low- and middle-income countries are not in a position to read a simple text by age 10. In India, the ASER report has consistently observed the sharp gaps between years of schooling and actual learning outcomes – for example, many grade 5 students struggle to do basic grade 2 level arithmetic. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 observed that by 2030, 39% of workers’ core skills will change. The report had also signalled that higher education and training institutions must move from “delivering credentials” to “ensuring lifelong learning capability” while aligning with employer-skill demands. Given India’s demography, this will mean that our universities and colleges need to reinvent curricula expeditiously, embedding digital adaptability, interdisciplinary education, experiential learning, and resilience.Five, addressing inequality, care-giving and the new social contract. The world has witnessed significant wealth, but institutionalised forms of inequalities are impacting the future in ways that we have not been able to respond to in a fair and just manner. The world needs to work towards developing a new social contract that recognizes the urgent need to address institutionalised forms of inequalities. The OXFAM 2025 international report, Takers Not Makers: The Unjust Poverty and Unearned Wealth of Colonial Inheritance, observed, “…crises of economy, climate and conflict mean the number of people living in poverty has barely changed since 1990… Our deeply unequal world has a long history of colonial domination which has largely benefitted the richest people. The poorest, racialised people, women and marginalized groups have and continue to be systematically exploited at huge human cost…This system still extracts wealth from the Global South to the superrich 1% in the Global North at a rate of US$ 30 million an hour… This must be reversed.” The need for addressing inequality has never been more urgent and important.Transforming tomorrow is not about seeing the future as an extension of the past or the present. It is about changing the future to address a plethora of new, complex, interconnected, and global challenges. This transformation will lead to the building of a resilient humanity for the future.C Raj Kumar is the founding vice chancellor of OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana. The views expressed are personal.