Christiana Figueres has been appointed Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Until the appointment Ms Figueres had been Vice Chair of the Carbon Rating Agency (CRA), an IDEAcarbon company, and a member of the CRA rating committee.
IDEAcarbon is honoured and delighted that such a highly regarded and experienced figure has been appointed to this important post and we welcome her appointment wholeheartedly. We feel that this can herald a new impetus to the international negotiations to secure a new global deal for climate change, as Ms Figueres understands what is required to get the sector participants fully engaged and how financial flows can make a difference in mitigation, adaptation and market mechanisms.
Following the news of the nomination, Shandi Modi, CEO of IDEAcarbon said “Christiana Figueres’ background in finance makes her an excellent choice to shepherd the UNFCCC towards a global climate deal, with an integral role that the carbon markets can play in achieving its objectives. She is widely seen as a negotiator who is able to bring complex issues between parties to a common approach. I am sure we speak for many in the private sector in warmly congratulating Christiana and wishing her luck in her new position.”<
Ian Johnson, Chairman of IDEAcarbon noted: “The private sector will really welcome this appointment – she understands what is needed to get the private sector more fully engaged in climate change and carbon markets.”
Christiana Figueres activities with Carbon Rating Agency and IDEAcarbon
Along with her long standing success as an international climate change negotiator, Ms Figueres has worked actively on the Carbon Rating Agency ratings committee, where she and others have reviewed and rated over 100 CDM/JI and voluntary projects. Additionally, Ms Figueres’ experience in programmatic CDM has led CRA to take a leading role in rating pCDM projects to set standards and bring liquidity to the initiative. Until her nomination, she was also Vice Chair of the Carbon Rating Agency.
For more details on Christiana’s work with CRA, please click here and here.