Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In 1987, the United Nations called a huge meeting in Montreal to negotiate the phaseout of ozone-depleting chemicals. And… it worked. The ozone layer is healing. And the Montreal Protocol is probably the best environmental treaty that 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 U.N. 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 U.N. 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, the CEO of COP30 and Brazil’s national secretary for climate change; Arunabha Ghosh, the founder and CEO of the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water and COP30’s special envoy for South Asia; and Jacob Ellis, 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 @unfoundation.
Explore ideas, essentials, and commentary on the future of global cooperation and the UN secretary-general race at regroupplaybook.org
Follow and listen to more episodes of World’s Toughest Job: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/worlds-toughest-job/id1894846765
Subscribe to all of Foreign Policy’s Podcasts at foreignpolicy.com/podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts
Subscribe to Foreign Policy's YouTube Channel: youtube.com/channel/UC1x_EgZtYkAzVavuONBrLZQ?sub_confirmation=1
Visit foreignpolicy.com to read the latest global news and analysis from FP.
Follow Foreign Policy:
X - twitter.com/ForeignPolicy
Instagram - instagram.com/foreignpolicymag
Facebook - facebook.com/foreign.policy.magazine
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/foreign-policy-magazine
TikTok - tiktok.com/@foreignpolicymagazine
In 1987, the United Nations called a huge meeting in Montreal to negotiate the phaseout of ozone-depleting chemicals. And… it worked. The ozone layer is healing. And the Montreal Protocol is probably the best environmental treaty that 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 U.N. 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 U.N. 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, the CEO of COP30 and Brazil’s national secretary for climate change; Arunabha Ghosh, the founder and CEO of the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water and COP30’s special envoy for South Asia; and Jacob Ellis, 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 @unfoundation.
Explore ideas, essentials, and commentary on the future of global cooperation and the UN secretary-general race at regroupplaybook.org
Follow and listen to more episodes of World’s Toughest Job: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/worlds-toughest-job/id1894846765
Subscribe to all of Foreign Policy’s Podcasts at foreignpolicy.com/podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts
Subscribe to Foreign Policy's YouTube Channel: youtube.com/channel/UC1x_EgZtYkAzVavuONBrLZQ?sub_confirmation=1
Visit foreignpolicy.com to read the latest global news and analysis from FP.
Follow Foreign Policy:
X - twitter.com/ForeignPolicy
Instagram - instagram.com/foreignpolicymag
Facebook - facebook.com/foreign.policy.magazine
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/foreign-policy-magazine
TikTok - tiktok.com/@foreignpolicymagazine
