Biographical Note

Secretary-General Appoints Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica as Executive Secretary

 

of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

 

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to succeed Yvo de Boer.  The appointment has been made after consultations with the Conference of Parties through its Bureau.  The Secretary-General is grateful to Mr. de Boer for his dedicated service and tireless efforts on behalf of the climate change agenda.

Ms. Figueres is an international leader on strategies to address global climate change and brings to this position a passion for the issue, deep knowledge of the stakeholders and valuable hands-on experience with the public sector, non-profit sector and private sector.  Ms. Figueres has been involved in climate change negotiations since 1995, served as a negotiator of both the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Kyoto Protocol, and chaired numerous Conference of Parties decisions.  Ms. Figueres also served as Vice-President of the Bureau, UNFCCC from 2008 to 2009, and as a member of the Executive Board of the Clean Development Mechanism in 2007.

From 1995 to 2003, she was the founder and Executive Director of the Center for Sustainable Development in the Americas (CSDA), a non-profit think thank for climate change policy and capacity-building.  From 1994 to 1996 she served with the United States Export Council for Renewable Energy as Director of the Technical Secretariat, Renewable Energy in the Americas (REIA).

Ms. Figueres has served on many boards of non-governmental organizations intimately involved in climate change issues, including the Winrock International and the Voluntary Carbon Standard.  She has advised private-sector companies playing a leadership role in climate mitigation, such as ENEL/ENDESA, C-Quest Capital and the Carbon Rating Agency. 

Ms. Figueres has been informed of the appointment and expressed her “gratitude to the Secretary-General and to the UNFCCC Bureau for their vote of confidence.  I come to the Secretariat with great respect for the institution and a deep commitment to UNFCCC process.  There is no task that is more urgent, more compelling or more sacred than that of protecting the climate of our planet for our children and grandchildren.”

Ms. Figueres was born in San José, Costa Rica, in 1956.  She is married to Konrad von Ritter and has two daughters, Naima and Yihana.

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For information media • not an official record