Essay by Eric Worrall
Surprisingly former New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern wasn’t on the list.
UN CLIMATE TALKS
2 July 2026 13:01
Q&A: Where do the UN secretary general candidates stand on climate change?Candidates are being nominated to take over as the UN secretary general, when António Guterres steps down after nearly a decade in the role at the end of 2026.
Since becoming the ninth secretary general on 1 January 2017, Guterres has been a strong advocate for climate action, saying in January 2026:
“We have been outspoken on the urgent need for climate action, demanding ambition and working to rally governments, businesses and civil society.”
…
Thus far, five of the six candidates are from South or Central America: Michelle Bachelet Jeria; Rebeca Grynspan Mayufis; Rafael Mariano Grossi; María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés; and Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett.
The outlier is Macky Sall, a former Senegalese president nominated by the east African nation of Burundi.
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Michelle Bachelet Jeria
Dr Michelle Bachelet Jeria is a Chilean diplomat, politician and doctor, nominated to be the next UN secretary general by Brazil and Mexico.…
As president [of Chile] and in public office, she consistently framed action on climate change as a human-rights obligation and a preventive tool to mitigate the worst impacts, arguing that “there is no space for [climate] denial”.
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Rebeca Grynspan Mayufis
…In 2021, Grynspan became the first woman to be appointed secretary general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
As part of this role, in February 2022, she outlined the UN’s vision for a sustainable recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic that “avoid[s] another lost decade of development for developing countries”.
…
Rafael Mariano Grossi
Rafael Mariano Grossi is an Argentine diplomat and has served as the director-general of the UN’s nuclear watchdog – the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – since 2019.
…Grossi takes credit for helping to achieve “global consensus around the need for nuclear power in the energy transition”.
…Macky Sall
Macky Sall is a Senegalese politician who served as prime minister from 2004 to 2007 and then president from 2012 to 2024. He has been nominated by Burundi, which is currently the chair of the African Union (AU).
However, Sall’s candidacy has been rejected by other AU states, with Rwanda calling the use of a “silent procedure” to push through consensus on the African candidate for the position “a gross breach of AU rules and regulations”.
…During the early part of Sall’s presidency, Senegal discovered oil and gas reserves – and the country’s oil exports have since surged from $0.4bn in 2015 to $2.4bn in 2024.
He was supportive of the African oil-and-gas sector, with much of the development of Senegal’s first oil production site undertaken during his term in office.
…
María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés
…Before her political career, Espinosa was known for her work with Indigenous communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon and biodiversity conservation.
…Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett
…In her vision statement for the role, Birkett places a strong emphasis on climate finance and unmet sustainable development goals.
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Read more: https://www.carbonbrief.org/qa-where-do-the-un-secretary-general-candidates-stand-on-climate-change/
What a lineup. The only candidate who has shown any support for oil and gas, African candidate Macky Sall, has been accused of Crimes Against Humanity for his allegedly harsh suppression of demonstrations against his Presidency in 2021.
Senegal opposition leader launches French legal action against incumbent President Sall
President Sall and accomplices are alleged to have ‘ordered and supervised the commission’ of crimes ‘against unarmed demonstrators since March 2021’ in the suit, which was filed in Paris by Ousmane Sonko.
Le Monde with AFPPublished on June 22, 2023, at 12:58 pm (Paris), updated on July 4, 2023, at 9:52 am
Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko has filed a criminal complaint in France for “crimes against humanity” against President Macky Sall, his lawyer said, as well as requesting a probe by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Sall is in Paris on Thursday, June 22, and Friday, June 23, for a global climate finance summit called by President Emmanuel Macron.
Read more: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/06/22/senegal-opposition-leader-launches-french-legal-action-against-incumbent-president-sall_6035338_4.html
Sonko alleges that deadly clashes following his sentencing to jail time this month are the latest step in “a generalized and systematic attack on the civilian population” of Senegal since March 2021, lawyer Juan Branco told AFP late on Wednesday, June 21.
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Personally I think Macky Sall should get the job. Not because I think he would do a good job, but because it would be hilarious to have a UN Secretary General who might end up with an international arrest warrant. And the rest of the candidates just look like boring apparatchiks.
