United Future 
Think Tank Network for accelerated action on sustainable development

About Us
United Future is an open, informal think tank network of 100+ people and organizations from various cultural and professional backgrounds, facilitated by a foundation registered in the Netherlands. We build consensus to interconnect, upscale, and implement proven solutions for international sustainable development, measured a.o. through the United Nations' (UN) Sustainable Development Goals.

The Sustainable Development Goals are a framework to end extreme poverty, hunger, and environmental crises all by 2030. The initiative for this think tank network was created by a small group of former employees of the UN and other international organizations, following the news in May 2025 that the progress of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals is off track. While there are hundreds of initiatives aiming to advance sustainable development, progress is slow, coordination is inefficient, and polarization about how the goals can be achieved increases.
 
United Future helps build the needed consensus through an interdisciplinary method, based on universal benefit. Through universal benefit, solutions are created that foster trust, cooperation, and accelerate systemic innovation across social and political divides. In other words, we build consensus on the principle of win-win-for-all.

Work & Solutions

Interconnected problems require interconnected solutions.

Across our Five Themes, we are working on the following solutions and output:

• Energy & Nature
  A common Theory of Change document, accelerating the energy transition while providing benefit to all affected actors in the transition towards new energy systems, creating broad consensus and accelerated action. The document has a special focus on continued employment for people working in current energy systems and health & safety of workers in mining sector for minerals and metals
• Peace
  1) A new catalogue for inclusive consensus between groups, promoting best practices in conflict resolution
  2) A process document outlining how countries can trade and cooperate to help advance each other’s goals for sustainable development with fair mutual benefit
• Institutions & Democracy
  A new process model for efficient consensus-building in democracies using science communication and bipartisanship
• New Economics
  A Theory of Change document interconnecting proven solutions in making economic systems more beneficial to people and planet, linked together in a new paradigm
• Culture
  A guide for narratives to popularize norms for common ground and environmental action across cultural and political divides 

International Conferences

A key example of the applicability of our consensus-building method its use in a common theory of change in international conferences, especially conferences on energy and nature. By ensuring that the rights and benefits of all stakeholders are represented, our theory of change helps these conferences to build inclusive consensus and coordinated long-term action across all connected organizations. By incorporating all affected actors, the energy transition is popularized in public opinion across political divides. Our theory of change for the energy transition includes benefits for employees in current energy and mining industries, respecting their human rights, health and safety conditions, and long-term employment. This results in win-win outcomes: future-proof employment, improved health & safety conditions in mineral and metal extraction, and a just transition toward new energy systems.

People & Partnerships
Everyone can join this informal network and contribute their ideas towards the five themes to accelerate action on sustainable development. We are a grassroots initiative  focused on building consensus within existing institutions. Through cultural and professional variety, the network provides a place for inclusive ideas. In 2026, we are preparing infrastructure to make it easier to exchange ideas with a large network of people across countries and different languages.