Global Zero refers both to a specific advocacy organization launched in Paris in December 2008 and, more broadly, to the policy aspiration of reducing the world's nuclear arsenals to zero through binding, verifiable, multilateral agreements.
The Global Zero movement was founded by a coalition of more than 100 political, military, business, and civic leaders, including former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, and former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry — figures whose 2007 and 2008 Wall Street Journal op-eds calling for a nuclear-weapons-free world helped catalyze the initiative. The group later published a Global Zero Action Plan proposing a phased timeline: deep bilateral U.S.–Russia reductions, followed by multilateral negotiations including China, France, the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea, culminating in complete elimination under a verification and enforcement regime.
The concept draws on Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which obligates nuclear-weapon states to pursue negotiations in good faith on nuclear disarmament. It also aligns with the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), although Global Zero itself is a distinct civil-society initiative and not a treaty.
Critics — including many defense establishments in nuclear-armed states — argue that complete elimination is destabilizing absent robust verification, that extended deterrence commitments to allies depend on nuclear forces, and that "breakout" risks remain. Supporters counter that the humanitarian consequences of nuclear use, the risk of accidental launch, and proliferation pressures make zero the only stable long-term endpoint.
For MUN delegates and researchers, Global Zero is frequently cited in debates within the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), the Conference on Disarmament, and NPT Review Conferences. It is often contrasted with doctrines of minimum deterrence, no first use, and nuclear sharing.
Example
In April 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama's Prague speech endorsed "the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons," language widely associated with the Global Zero agenda.
Frequently asked questions
No. It is an international advocacy initiative launched in 2008, not a binding legal instrument. The closest treaty expression of its goal is the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
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