Christiana Figueres
The Diplomat
People, composure and the difficult conversation held well.
Christiana Figueres is a prominent Costa Rican diplomat known for her pivotal role in international climate negotiations, particularly the Paris Agreement. This interview highlights her ability to navigate complex political landscapes and foster collaboration among diverse stakeholders to address the climate crisis.
“Two degrees increase in temperature when what science tells us is we have to keep it at 1.5 increase from where we were in pre-industrial age. And we're getting very close. But the insurance companies said, if we get to a world that is two degrees warmer than the baseline, we will be in systemically uninsurable scenario.”
“Yahim he may have felt that unfortunately one of the traits that we in Latin America inherited from Spain is that we tend to name our children the same as the parents. And that was the case for my brother, that he carries the same name as my father. And my brother's son and grandfather You put on a newly born child.”
“And when I say that this is marking the quality of life, I really mean that because picture, if you will, Rory, that if this warming continues, if this heating continues, we will have vast swaths of the planet that become completely uninhabitable. And they're inhabited now. So what do those people going to do?”
“Of the drama there, we had one country delegate representative from Venezuela who actually stood up on her official desk that says Venezuela on it. I mean, you have to understand, right? In a UN context, all these desks, each one has a name, the country. It's a very, very formal, very exceedingly formal context.”
The Rest Is Politics: Leading — 49. Christiana Figueres: COP28, Costa Rica, and surviving the climate crisis
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