17 May 2010: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Christiana Figueres, a Costa Rican diplomat, as Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, to replace Yvo de Boer on 1 July 2010.
According to Martin Nesirky, Ban’s spokesperson, 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.” [UN Press Release] [Climate Change Policy & Practice Story on Yvo de Boer’s Resignation]