ABSTRACT
This chapter concludes our review of the ongoing climate change negotiations by looking at the last major breakthrough in 2015. The Paris Climate Agreement marked the culmination of years of painstaking work and preparations. At the centre of it all was Christiana Figueres, a Costa Rican diplomat who became involved in the climate negotiations in the 1990s, Figueres had taken over as head of the UN’s climate office just months after the Copenhagen Summit and had been working tirelessly for five years to craft a more ambitious global commitment to combating climate change. This chapter assesses Figueres’ role in building a consensus among the diplomatic community and many other stakeholders, including the corporate sector and non-governmental organisations.
