Christiana Figueres on Thursday finally confirmed longstanding rumors that she would launch a bid to become the next U.N. secretary general. Just two days after leaving her post as executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Figueres said she had accepted a nomination for secretary general from her home country of Costa Rica.
“In the face of rampant injustices, abuses, unrest and conflicts with increasing ramifications, there is understandable despair. But given the stakes, failure to address these challenges is simply not an option. Humanity has created these challenges, and we ourselves can and must step up to address them,” Figueres wrote in her vision statement, published Thursday.
Figueres, who helped steer nearly 200 nations to the creation of the world’s first universal climate agreement in Paris in December 2015, will be replaced at the UNFCCC by Patricia Espinosa, a veteran diplomat who is currently Mexico’s ambassador to Germany.
Figueres is the 12th nominee for the top job at the U.N., which will be vacated by current Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the end of the year. Other nominees are Srgjan Kerim of Macedonia, Vesna Pusić of Croatia, Igor Lukšić of Montenegro, Danilo Türk of Slovenia, Irina Bokova of Bulgaria, Natalia Gherman of Moldova, António Guterres of Portugal, Helen Clark of New Zealand, Vuk Jeremić of the Serbia, Susana Malcorra of Argentina, and Miroslav Lajčák of the Slovak Republic.
The secretary general is appointed by the U.N. General Assembly, based on the recommendation of the 15-member Security Council. According to a June 15 announcement, the Security Council will begin the considering candidates on July 21.
