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Costa Rica Christiana Figueres is a Costa Rican diplomat recognized for her leadership in global climate action, notably steering the diplomatic efforts that culminated in the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Founder of the Global Optimism group, an organization promoting climate action through partnerships across business, policy, and activism.
Co-author of the book along with Tom Rivett-Carnac, addressing the climate crisis.
Co-host of the climate action podcast.
Chair of the Earthshot Prize, an initiative focused on environmental solutions.
Senior Adviser to C-Quest Capital, a carbon finance company focusing on programmatic CDM investments.
Principal Climate Change Advisor to ENDESA Latinoamérica, a large private utility in Latin America.
Vice Chair of the Rating Committee for the Carbon Rating Agency, applying credit rating expertise to carbon assets.
Board of Directors and Trustee, and Chair of the Governance Committee.
Board of Trustees member for this Costa Rican organization focused on sustainable development.
Board of Directors member.
Convenor of Mission 2020, a global effort to peak greenhouse emissions by 2020.
Chair of the advisory board.
Leader within an organization committed to a better way of doing business for people and the planet.
Member of the Board of Directors for the plant-based meat company.
Member of the Board of Directors.
Member of the Board of Directors.
Member of the advisory board for the multinational energy company.
Co-chair of the Global Advisory Board for the electric street racing series.
Member of the Sustainability and Legacy Commission.
Member of the Board of Directors.
Member of the Inter-American Dialogue, a leading think tank on Western Hemisphere affairs.
Vice chair of an international alliance of cities and local governments with a shared long-term vision of promoting and supporting voluntary action to combat climate change.
A leader participating in climate-related initiatives and programs with the World Bank.
Senior Fellow at Conservation International, a non-profit environmental organization.
Serves on the board or council for ClimateWorks, an organization focused on climate philanthropy.
Serves on the board or council for the Economic Council on Planetary Health at the Rockefeller Foundation.
Serves on the board or council for the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.
Karen Christiana Figueres Olsen was born on August 7, 1956, in San José, Costa Rica. Her early life was influenced by her parents’ public service; her father, José Figueres Ferrer, served as President of Costa Rica three times, and her mother, Karen Olsen Beck, was a Costa Rican Ambassador to Israel and a member of the Legislative Assembly. Figueres earned a Bachelor of Arts from Swarthmore College in 1979, where she studied anthropology, including a year living in an indigenous village in Costa Rica. She went on to complete a Master’s degree in Social Anthropology from the London School of Economics in 1981.
Figueres began her public service career in 1982 at the Embassy of Costa Rica in West Germany, serving until 1985. Upon returning to Costa Rica, she held roles such as Director of International Cooperation in the Ministry of Planning from 1987 to 1988, where she managed financial and technical cooperation programs, and Chief of Staff to the Minister of Agriculture from 1988 to 1990, overseeing national programs. In 1994, she became Director of the Renewable Energy in the Americas (REIA) initiative. The following year, she founded and directed the Center for Sustainable Development in the Americas (CSDA) for eight years, a non-profit dedicated to promoting Latin American participation in the Climate Change Convention.
From 2010 to 2016, Figueres served as the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In this role, she led the UN Climate Change Secretariat through six annual global negotiation sessions, which culminated in the Paris Agreement in December 2015. This agreement is widely recognized for its goal of accelerating global economic transformation towards low carbon and high resilience. Her efforts included engaging various stakeholders beyond governments, such as technology providers, financial institutions, the science community, and other societal groups, to foster participation in addressing climate change.
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