UN chief picks Mexican diplomat to head climate office

PARIS, France – A veteran Mexican diplomat has been chosen to head the United Nations’ newly upgraded climate office, UN chief Ban Ki-moon announced in a letter to France’s environment minister.

Ban said he will appoint Patricia Espinosa Cantellano “as the new UNFCCC Executive Secretary for a term of 3 years,” referring to the body which oversaw the international negotiations in December leading to a historic climate pact.

The letter, obtained by Agence France-Presse, is dated April 28 and addressed to French minister Segolene Royal, whose country hosted the 195-nation climate talks.

A former foreign minister, and currently Mexico’s ambassador to Germany, Espinosa made her mark in climate circles when she took the helm at the UN talks in 2010, a year after the process was nearly derailed in Copenhagen.

She will replace Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica, who held the post for 6 years and will step down in July.

Figueres confirmed the selection in a tweet, noting that the process of confirmation – a formality – is under way.

The mandate of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, now in its 21st year, is to slash dangerous carbon pollution and help poor countries cope with climate impacts.

The 2015 Paris Agreement vows to cap global warming at “well under” 2ºC (3.6ºF) above the pre-Industrial Era benchmark – a hugely ambitious target.

Espinosa’s appointment comes at a crucial time in the climate saga as the focus shifts from setting goals to carrying them out, analysts said.

“It is a different role now that you have the [Paris] agreement in place,” said Alden Meyer of the Washington-based Union of Concerned Scientists.

“There is a lot more nitty-gritty implementation to be done,” he said before Ban’s choice was known.

The position has been elevated to the status of under secretary general, and comes with a salary in the neighborhood of $200,000 (173,000 euros).

Ban’s letter said that he interviewed 4 short-listed candidates before making his choice, though he did not say who they were.

One might have been Laurence Tubiana, France’s top climate negotiator during the Paris talks.

Tubiana was widely credited – along with French foreign minister Laurent Fabius – with ushering the fraught negotiations to a happy ending.

At the request of Royal, the application window was extended so that Tubiana’s candidature could be taken into consideration. – Rappler.com