Mexican diplomat Patricia Espinosa has officially been sworn in as executive secretary for the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced Espinosa’s nomination in early May. Meeting in Bonn in late May, the UNFCCC announced the acceptance of the nomination.
“It was a huge honor to be sworn in as new [UNFCCC] Executive Secretary by [U.N. Secretary General] Ban Ki-moon at the [U.N.] in NYC today,” Espinosa, who most recently served as Mexico’s ambassador to Germany, wrote on Twitter Monday morning.
Espinosa replaces Christiana Figueres, who last year helped steer nearly 200 nations to the creation of the Paris Agreement, the world’s first universal climate accord. Figueres announced her resignation, effective July 6, in February and has since announced her candidacy for U.N. secretary general, a post that will open with the end of Ban’s term on Dec. 31.
Espinosa’s three decades in diplomacy have focused on issues of climate change, human rights, global governance, and sustainable development, the UNFCCC said. She served as Mexican foreign affairs minister from 2006 to 2012 and then as the country’s ambassador to Germany.
