Agenda 2030 will introduce several global policies and create a UN/WHO dictatorship.
Agenda 2030 is a series of UN development goals. They are non legally binding and subject to each country’s implementation. This is no evidence to support these claims.
A cartoon posted on Facebook suggests the World Economic Forum (WEF), United Nations (UN) and World Health Organisation (WHO) have an agenda that includes causing energy blackouts, an insect diet and a UN/WHO dictatorship.
The satirical meme shows the WEF chairman, Klaus Schwab, pointing to a list of ‘policies’ under the header “Agenda 2030”.
The list reads: net zero carbon, no fossil fuels, no petrol cars, no jobs, no electricity, no borders, no meat, eat insects, unaffordable green energy, endless blackouts, UN/WHO dictatorship.
As we have written before, Agenda 2030 is a real set of goals developed by the UN. However, there is no evidence to suggest that the agenda mandates any of the ideas that the Facebook post mentions.
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Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development refers to a plan agreed to by 193 member states of the UN in 2015.
It includes 17 goals with global objectives such as reducing inequality, ending world hunger and ensuring access to clean energy for all.
The agenda does not comprise legally binding policies and was instead described as a “social contract” at the WEF Open Forum in 2016.
Each country is tasked with developing its own national framework to implement the targets.
The UN website says that the "implementation and success will rely on countries’ own sustainable development policies, plans and programmes."
There is no evidence that the targets set in Agenda 2030 will mandate any of the policies listed in the cartoon.
Throughout the 49-page document, the terms “carbon”, “borders”, “insects” or “blackouts” do not appear. There are also no references to banning petrol cars, fossil fuels or meat.
Instead, there’s explicit detail of “universal access to affordable, reliable…energy services”, contradicting claims made in the Facebook post about “unaffordable energy”, “no electricity” and “endless blackouts”.
The agenda acknowledges that fossil fuels will still be necessary in 2030 and sets targets to “rationalize inefficient fossil fuel subsidies” and make fossil fuel technology cleaner.
Rather than replacing meat with insects, the agenda aims to double agricultural productivity. This specifically includes meat production, referring to pastoralists, fishers and the importance of maintaining genetic diversity for “farmed and domesticated animals”.
Full Fact has written before about false claims that the WEF published an article saying it was racist to not want to eat bugs. The insect claim in the Facebook post may be based on similar misinformation. However, Agenda 2030 does not reference eating insects.
In terms of borders and jobs, Agenda 2030 calls for international cooperation on “safe, orderly and regular migration”, as well as “decent work for all” with particular support for youth employment and women’s economic empowerment. There is no reference to an end to jobs or borders.
The final claim in the cartoon shared on Facebook is that Agenda 2030 is a vehicle to achieve a UN/WHO dictatorship. The WHO is an agency within the UN that focuses on global health.
Agenda 2030 does not include any reference to global sovereignty and says “democracy, good governance and the rule of law”, at the national and international levels, are essential for sustainable development.
Reuters also notes that the UN website states that the Agenda 2030 goals result from “two years of intensive public consultation and engagement with civil society and other stakeholders around the world, which paid particular attention to the voices of the poorest and most vulnerable.”
This “dictatorship” claim may be related to a conspiracy theory that has circulated since the UN released its Agenda 2021 in 1992—the precursor to Agenda 2030.
The conspiracy theory claims that the UN development agenda intends to create a “new world order” which would include a single cashless currency, 5G surveillance, government-owned and controlled schools, colleges and universities and an end to single-family homes.
Full Fact previously fact checked concerns about Agenda 2030 being linked to Covid-19 and the “enslavement of humanity.”
There is no evidence that the agenda has a wider policy to harm humanity. These claims can create distrust for public institutions and impact the way people choose to engage with society.
Image courtesy of Gobierno
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because Agenda 2030 consists of non legally binding targets and there is no evidence to support these claims.
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