The overall impact of human activities on the Earth's system and its key elements such as biodiversity or climate is so great that the contemporary era is called the Anthropocene, where globalization is overwhelming and the global influence of human action equals natural processes. This brings about many problems of global nature that are difficult to solve as adequate governance of global common goods is not satisfactorily developed.
The various historical and contemporary attempts to provide some form of governance at the global level are presented, including the concept of common heritage of mankind or community approaches. An important contribution represents the concept of global public goods that was espoused by many intergovernmental and international organizations, including the UN and the EU.
The relationship with the global sustainable development goals and official development assistance is also mentioned.