What Can the Next Secretary-General Do to Protect the Future?

What Can the Next Secretary-General Do to Protect the Future?

In 1987, the United Nations called a huge meeting in Montreal to negotiate the phase out of ozone depleted chemicals. And…it worked. The ozone layer is healing. And the Montreal Protocol is probably the best environmental treaty we've ever pulled off. But the Montreal Protocol had to deal with one set of chemicals. A handful of companies. A replacement that was already sitting on the shelf. And what the next secretary-general inherits is nothing like that. In this last episode of World’s Toughest Job, we’re asking: Can the next Secretary General turn the UN from a place where the future gets talked about into a place where it gets protected? Host Jasmin Bauomy and co-host Mark Malloch-Brown are joined by Ana Toni, COP30 CEO and National Secretary for Climate Change, Brazil; Arunabha Ghosh, founder and CEO of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water and COP30 Special Envoy for South Asia; and Jacob Ellis, who’s a policymaker, civil society leader, and champion for intergenerational fairness. He works at the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales in support of the implementation of Wales’ world-leading Well-being of Future Generations Act.  World’s Toughest Job is a co-production of Foreign Policy and the UN Foundation.

Can the UN Still Act as the Emergency Platform the World Needs?

The 1997 East Asian financial crisis, the 2008 global food and energy crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic are all examples of global systemic shocks.  And when the next secretary-general takes office in January 2027, there will most likely be another complex crisis underway.  These days, a new complex global crisis pops up about as often as the Olympics. And the UN secretary-general may be the only leader who can persuade a divided world to respond as one. Host Jasmin Bauomy and co-host Mark Malloch-Brown are joined by Sigrid Kaag, a former Dutch deputy prime minister and finance minister and UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process; Martin Griffiths, a former UN undersecretary for humanitarian affairs; and Aarathi Krishnan, the founder and CEO of RAKSHA Intelligence Futures. World’s Toughest Job is a co-production of Foreign Policy and the UN Foundation.

How Can a New Secretary-General Protect the Infrastructure We All Depend on?

The cables that carry most of the world’s data, the shipping lanes that carry its energy and goods, and the satellites that keep its financial systems running were all built on the assumption that the global economy was something that most actors wanted to protect. But that assumption is now being tested. Our connectivity has created new vulnerabilities, with physical and digital chokepoints that are exposed as single points of failure. So now, the next United Nations secretary-general inherits a different problem: As the infrastructure connecting the world becomes a target for attacks, what can they do to protect it? Host Jasmin Bauomy and co-host Mark Malloch-Brown are joined by Sal Mercogliano, associate professor of history at Campbell University who runs a YouTube channel on shipping, Elisabeth Braw, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and the author of the upcoming book Undersea War, and Parag Khanna, founder and CEO of AlphaGeo.  World’s Toughest Job is a co-production of Foreign Policy and the UN Foundation.

As Another Economic Crisis Looms, How Should the UN Respond?

In 1994, United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali proposed a radical, new vision to reform the global financial infrastructure. He called it An Agenda for Development. But his proposal was watered down in committee and largely ignored by the financial powers of the time.  Today, more than 50 countries are in serious distress because of their debt.  And now, the crisis in the Hormuz Strait is affecting food prices, currencies, and fuel supplies all at once. And the G20 can’t seem to agree on a course of action for how to solve it all. So what could or should the next secretary-general do? Can the UN become a platform for global economic governance — the way Boutros-Ghali hoped it could be? Host Jasmin Bauomy and co-host Mark Malloch-Brown are joined by Homi Kharas, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C.; Carlos Lopes, professor at the Nelson Mandela School, University of Cape Town and a former UN under-secretary-general; and Attiya Waris, professor of fiscal law and policy at the University of Nairobi. World’s Toughest Job is a co-production of Foreign Policy and the UN Foundation.

Does the UN Have a Seat at the AI Table?

In the United Nations’ early years, Secretary-General Trygve Lie negotiated with governments to stop the nuclear arms race. But today, the code that could reshape civilization is owned by private companies.  This year, one of the leading artificial intelligence labs decided its new model was too dangerous to release. It was essentially a private CEO making a governance call for the entire world. The UN wasn’t in the room.  In fact, it wasn't even invited. The UN is trying to catch up. It has launched a new scientific panel, and it is hosting global dialogues in Geneva to get everyone on the same page. But is that enough? Or will the next secretary-general get left behind while Silicon Valley writes the rules for the future? Host Jasmin Bauomy and co-host Mark Malloch-Brown are joined by Ambassador Philip Thigo, Kenya’s special envoy for technology; Nur Laiq, a technology and policy Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School; and Max Stauffer, co-founder of the Simon Institute for Longterm Governance in Geneva. World’s Toughest Job is a co-production of Foreign Policy and the UN Foundation.