Ms Figueres, a citizen of Costa Rica, has received multiple honours and accolades from nations all over the world as a true hero of this ‘Blue Marble’ we all share. She is perhaps best known for her extraordinary leadership in delivering the historic Paris Agreement, the first unanimously agreed Climate Change treaty in December 2015. Most recently she is known for her best-selling book “The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis”, co-authored with Tom Rivett-Carnac, and as co-presenter of the lively weekly podcast, “Outrage + Optimism”.

During her tenure (2010-16), at the UNFCCC, (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), Ms Figueres was credited with forging a new style of collaborative diplomacy, that gave rise to 195 sovereign nations agreeing to a collaborative pathway forward in limiting global heating to 1.5C. 

Ms Figueres is a founding partner of Global Optimism Ltd., a purpose driven enterprise focused on precipitating sectoral shifts towards halving emissions before 2030, to ensure the goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is achievable. Under her leadership Global Optimism co-founded The Climate Pledge with Amazon, a collective effort of corporations committed to achieving net zero carbon by 2040. She is also  a Board member of  ACCIONA and of  WRI.

"I am honoured to be named as the 10th Hillary Laureate and intend to work with this group over the year ahead in the same spirit of compassion and commitment the nine previous Laureates and the Hillary organisation represents,” said Christiana Figueres. “It has never been more apt than at the start of this decisive decade for climate action, when human suffering has reached intolerable levels globally, to remind ourselves of Maori wisdom reflecting our shared mission - ‘Toitū te marae a Tāne-Mahuta, Toitū te marae a Tangaroa, Toitū te tangata’, which means that if the land is well and the sea is well, the people will thrive.”

Ms Figueres was the 2020 Hillary Laureate and the tenth since the inaugural annual awardee, the UK's Jeremy Leggett in 2009 - all remarkable, mid-career leadership champions for environmental and social justice across five continents - see www.hillaryinstitute.com