Former French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has announced that he will resign his position as president of the 21st Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In his role, which was intended to be a yearlong appointment, Fabius led the December 2015 climate negotiations that resulted in the adoption of the Paris Agreement. In the current year, he was to lead the implementation of the agreement.
The Paris Agreement is the world’s first universal deal on climate change, in which nearly 200 countries have committed to take aggressive action to address greenhouse gas emissions, promote decarbonization, and move forward with climate adaptation actions.
Fabius announced Feb. 10 that he would step down as foreign minister to take a new job chairing France’s Constitutional Council. Initially, it seemed he would stay on as COP president, but in a letter Monday to French President Francois Hollande, Fabius said he would leave the position to avoid any controversy due to holding two positions, Reuters reported. It is unclear at this time who will serve as COP president in Fabius’ absence.
