United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement 2016 Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation

Statements by Christiana Figueres on the conferral of the 2016 Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and The Paris Agreement

“On behalf of all my colleagues at the UNFCCC, I would like to thank the 2016 Princess of Asturias Award committee and the judges for bestowing upon us this prestigious recognition of our work and its contribution to international cooperation.

I sincerely believe the Paris Climate Change Agreement, which in many ways took over two decades in the making and has been the work of many, many hands, marks a milestone in respect to nations cooperating under the UN to deal with an overarching and systemic threat to lives and livelihoods everywhere.

The Paris Agreement is testimony that multilateralism is alive and well and can serve as a catalyst and a beacon for international cooperation across a myriad of challenges and not just sustainable development in the 21st century. The agreement and the positivity it has generated provides seeds for a new and renewed engagement on peace and security across the globe which is at the heart of the UN’s raison d’etre.”

Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Brussels, 22nd June 2016