A Charter for Compassionate Transformation: From Inner Healing to Planetary Flourishing
The Great Turning
We, the global community of Earth, stand at a threshold moment in human and planetary history. The principle of compassion, which has always resided at the heart of all religious, ethical, spiritual and indigenous traditions, now calls us to a profound transformation, from separation to kinship, from charity to justice, from competition to cooperation and from human-centered thinking to universal awareness. We recognize that authentic compassion begins with the understanding that inner healing extends outward through just relationships, regenerative systems, and reverent care for all life. Compassion is both a deep awareness of suffering and a courageous commitment to transformation, addressing symptoms and root causes through intentional action and structural change.
Call to Transformation
We are called to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our world as it awakens to greater interconnection and wholeness. Rooted in inner healing and manifested as justice, this expanded compassion can dissolve our perceived boundaries between self and other, human and nature, past, present and future. Born of our deep interdependence with all life, compassion is essential to human relationships and to the continuation of life itself on Earth. It is the path to collective healing and indispensable to the creation of regenerative economies, restorative justice and a thriving planetary community. We call upon all beings to join this great work of our time: the transformation of our civilizations from systems of domination to cultures of partnership, from economies of extraction to economies of care, from a patterned consciousness of separation to an expanded awareness of sacred kinship with all life.
The Living Promise
This Charter is our sacred promise to life itself, a commitment to embody the change we seek, to heal wounds we have inherited and to plant seeds of flourishing for generations yet to come. It is an invitation to participate in the greatest story ever told: the story of life awakening to its own sacred nature and choosing love over fear, cooperation over domination and healing over harm.
May our words become actions, our actions become culture and our culture become the foundation for a world where all beings can thrive in dignity, beauty, and beloved community.
Launch of Charter for Compassion 2.0
The Charter for Compassion launched Charter 2.0 on November 12, 2025, sixteen years after the original Charter for Compassion was launched in 2009. The launch has been captured on the film below. Through a powerful blend of storytelling, music, archival footage, and voices from around the globe, the production traces the Charter’s journey from its origins in 2009 to its renewal today.
This is more than a film — it is a global gathering. It is a story of growth, resilience, and renewal, calling each of us to live compassion as a way of life. The Charter for Compassion 2.0 is not a replacement of the original, but its deepening — a bold next chapter that honors the past while calling us into the “Great Turning” of our times.
Charter for Compassion 2.0 Guidebook
The Charter for Compassion 2.0 Guidebook is both an invitation and a companion for our shared journey toward a more compassionate world. It expands upon the original Charter for Compassion, first launched at the United Nations in 2009, and offers fresh language, insight, and inspiration for this new era of awakening and responsibility. Within these pages, you’ll find guiding principles, reflective practices, and stories that bring compassion to life—in our inner worlds, our communities, and our planet.
This Guidebook is a living document, meant to be read, reflected upon, and put into practice. It invites you to explore how compassion can be both a personal discipline and a collective movement for transformation.
The full text of Charter for Compassion 2.0 is available to read online as a magazine format—and may also be downloaded as a PDF for a modest contribution that supports the Charter’s global initiatives and compassionate education programs.
