Christiana Figueres

Organisations seeking to mobilise climate action and build collaborative frameworks for global challenges gain powerful insight from Christiana Figueres, the diplomat who transformed international climate diplomacy. As Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from 2010 to 2016, she orchestrated the historic Paris Agreement. Now co-chairing a Lancet Commission on sea level rise and health whilst leading Brazil's climate transition frameworks at the 2026 summit, she equips audiences with proven strategies for forging consensus, driving systemic change, and turning seemingly impossible goals into achievable outcomes through optimism and determination.

Climate change poses one of the most urgent threats to human health and planetary stability, yet translating scientific consensus into coordinated global action has repeatedly proven extraordinarily difficult. Christiana Figueres is a Costa Rican diplomat and internationally recognised authority on climate change who has dedicated her career to forging the collaborative frameworks needed to address this challenge. As Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from 2010 to 2016, she is best known for her instrumental role in securing the landmark Paris Agreement in 2015, an achievement that brought 195 nations together to commit to limiting global warming to well below 2°C. Since then, she has continued to shape climate policy and action as a Founding Partner of Global Optimism, co-presenter of the climate podcast Outrage + Optimism, and co-author of The Future We Choose: The Stubborn Optimist's Guide to the Climate Crisis.

Figueres assumed leadership of international climate negotiations following the widely regarded failure of the 2009 Copenhagen conference, a moment when global climate diplomacy appeared to have reached an impasse. Over six years, she directed successful Conferences of the Parties in Cancún, Durban, Doha, Warsaw and Lima, building the momentum that culminated in the historic Paris Agreement of December 2015. Throughout this process, she brought together an unprecedented coalition of national and subnational governments, corporations, financial institutions, faith communities, NGOs and activists to deliver a legally binding global framework that many had considered impossible. For this work, she has been credited with pioneering a new model of collaborative diplomacy and has received numerous international honours, including the Legion of Honour of France, decorations from Germany and the Netherlands, and recognition from Time magazine as one of the world's most influential leaders. In 2026, she was named co-chair of a Lancet Commission on sea level rise, health and justice, examining legal frameworks to hold countries accountable for climate-related health harms, with findings due by September 2027.

Figueres brings audiences a rare combination of high-level diplomatic experience, strategic insight and practical optimism grounded in real-world achievement. She helps organisations and leaders understand how to move beyond paralysis and conflict towards collaborative solutions that balance economic realities with urgent climate imperatives. Her work demonstrates that transformational change is possible when diverse stakeholders are united around shared goals, and she equips audiences with the frameworks, mindset and confidence to drive meaningful climate action within their own spheres of influence. Whether addressing corporate leaders, policymakers or activists, she offers a compelling vision of how stubborn optimism, paired with clear-eyed realism, can accelerate the transition to a sustainable future.