Nearly eighty years since the invention of gross domestic product (GDP), efforts are now underway at the United Nations (UN) to go beyond GDP as the preeminent measure for assessing a nation’s progress. Recognizing the longstanding limitations of GDP growth as a guiding metric for progress across social and environmental dimensions, all Member States to the UN agreed in 2024 under the Pact for the Future to develop a framework that measures progress and both complements and goes beyond GDP.
The first stage of this commitment was completed last week in New York at UN headquarters, when the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP (HLEG) presented their final report to governments, recommending how to go beyond GDP. The second phase now begins: a UN-led intergovernmental process on beyond GDP (BGDP-IGP) that can set the statistical parameters – and implementing mechanisms – that can shift economic policymaking to truly deliver inclusive, equitable and sustainable wellbeing.
A Once-in-a-Generation Reset in Valuing What Counts
The final HLEG report contains a dashboard of 31 indicators to measure sustainable and inclusive wellbeing. They cover the three foundational pillars of peace, human rights and sustainability, presented as the means for enabling prosperity for current and future generations within planetary boundaries. Half of the indicators were drawn from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the remainder drawn from existing statistical frameworks, to provide the means for immediate implementation. The HLEG, however, was unable to come to a consensus on two critical dimensions for developing a universal and comprehensive statistical framework to go beyond GDP: headline aggregate indicators and cross-border spillover effects. Given the complexity and inherently political nature of determining either measure, the report recommends that a specialized UN scientific committee and a relevant process or institution, such as the World Bank, respectively develop both measures starting in 2027.
In anticipation of the BGDP-IGP, UNU-CPR and partners convened a two-day independent expert workshop in March 2026 to gather ideas on how this formal process can result in a framework and mechanisms for implementation that deliver on its promise. The workshop discussions made it clear that the BGDP-IGP offers opportunities qualitatively different from previous efforts to go beyond GDP:
- First, a universal political mandate through the Pact for the Future commitment elevates this agenda beyond the technical sphere. Many alternative measures exist, but often do not receive the necessary political buy-in for them to shift decision-making from the status quo.
- Second, a potential UN-wide suite of indicators adopted through the BGDP-IGP can offer a standardized set of measurements that matches the universality of GDP itself; the development of headline index(es) is therefore of critical importance. The fragmentation, breadth and lack of interoperability of beyond GDP indicators at the international level often render them secondary priorities which fail to steer decision-making.
- Third, the process itself could stimulate the convergence and mainstreaming of GDP alternatives amongst wider communities of practice, including across the private sector, Indigenous peoples, subnational governments, research communities, labour organizations, gender and youth movements, and faith organizations.
With the report now published, the intergovernmental process has kicked off. Co-facilitated by the governments of Guyana and Spain, under the auspices of the UN General Assembly, the BGDP-IGP remains fully open in its structure, scope and ambition, taken forward at the discretion of Member States. The first informal consultation held at the launch of the HLEG report provided a clear indication that this process will need to be managed carefully in order to ensure it remains impactful and policy-relevant, while avoiding duplication or fragmentation.
The beyond GDP agenda threads both technical and political dimensions and can have far-reaching impacts – including setting the stage for the post-2030 development framework, where discussions on the future of the SDGs will start at the SDG Summit in 2027. Providing adequate time for diplomats to engage with relevant technical bodies will be important to ensure coherence with other relevant processes, while providing an open and transparent process that invites multidisciplinary consultations with a wide range of stakeholders across society will be critical for delivering a transformative outcome. A roadmap for the BGDP-IGP should therefore expect to include identified objectives and a timeline extending into the next session of the General Assembly; a process with this level of importance may take years, rather than months.
Building a Pathway for Implementation
Establishing new and consolidated measures for what truly matters is necessary but not sufficient. The deeper challenge lies in embedding beyond GDP metrics into the frameworks that actually govern national accounts, macroeconomic modelling, budgetary planning and public investment, as well as debt assessment and development cooperation on the international side. The potential of this agenda as a ‘keystone reform’ rests on the recognition that GDP-centrism distorts decision-making across an interlocking set of systems and institutions – each of which must be engaged on this agenda in order to reform global economic governance towards delivering equitable and sustainable development within planetary boundaries. Two complementary pathways can drive implementation alongside and through the intergovernmental process.
The first is through existing multilateral fora and reform processes. The recent ECOSCO Forum on Financing for Development (FFD) follow-up is a central entry point: the Sevilla Commitment from last year makes explicit that GDP-centric rules governing concessional finance, credit ratings and debt sustainability are themselves barriers to sustainable development policymaking. The beyond GDP process should also be understood as an integral pillar of the broader international financial architecture reform agenda, not a parallel technical exercise. Beyond FFD, the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, the UN Climate Change and Biological Diversity conventions and their associated economic and trade dimensions, along with recent initiatives such as the Roadmap to Eradicate Poverty Beyond Growth and the International Panel on Inequality, all represent institutional channels through which a credible UN-wide beyond GDP framework could progressively reshape the rules that govern how progress is measured, financed and delivered. The looming labour transition through widespread AI diffusion also provides a potential motivating factor for governments to adopt wellbeing-centred economic targets.
The second pathway runs through coalitions of the willing. Political leadership and coalitions have a critical role in mainstreaming new statistical frameworks across leading policymaking bodies. The Global Alliance for Beyond GDP – launched as a Seville Platform for Action initiative in 2025 by Spain, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, UN Trade and Development and the Ibero-American General Secretariat, and now in its implementation phase with more than 30 endorsing countries – commits to connecting finance ministries, statistical agencies and multilateral development banks to translate any new framework into real decision-making. The Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action of 100 finance ministries and the Network for Greening the Financial System of central bankers and supervisors offer two additional initiatives to support implementation of the UN Beyond GDP agenda across national financial decision-making bodies. Similarly, informal ‘Group of Friends’ diplomatic networks within the UN, such as on Future Generations, the Science-Policy interface or Global Governance, can serve as critical platforms for advancing discussion, exchange and coordination among high-ambition countries.
What Comes Next
The coming months will be consequential, as the co-facilitators to the BGDP-IGP work to shape the pathway forward. Member States will be expected to consult with the HLEG members for technical clarification, while experts in their capitals carefully review the statistical and policy implications of the HLEG’s recommendations. Active engagement by civil society and mobilization around the initiation of this UN process will be critical for building the foundation for eventual wider uptake of these measures at both technical and paradigmatic levels.
Three milestones stand out for the remainder of this year. The opening of UNGA 81 in September 2026 will signal whether Member States are prepared to undertake an ambitious, longer-term process to truly undertake a transformative approach to economic policymaking. The IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in October 2026 will be a critical barometer for whether the major international financial institutions are genuinely integrating beyond GDP proposals into their operational frameworks. And the selection of the new UN Secretary-General in the final quarter of 2026 will carry significant implications for sustaining this vision into the next institutional cycle.
The window is open for a once-in-a-generation chance to rewrite the rules of the economy and how it serves people and planet. The question is whether governments, institutions and the wider beyond GDP community will use it, and whether the Pact for the Future commitment remains aspirational or becomes transformative.
