2022 WOLFGANG FRIEDMANN MEMORIAL
AWARD RECIPIENT:
Christiana Figueres
On April 9, 2022, the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law awarded the 48th Annual Wolfgang Friedmann Memorial Award to former Costa Rican diplomat Christiana Figueres. Gillian Lester, Dean of the Faculty of Law and Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law, provided introductory remarks. Nicholas Kourides, Chairman of the Board of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, introduced the Wolfgang Friedmann Memorial Award and Professor Michael Gerrard, Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia Law School, introduced the award recipient.
Since 1975, the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law has presented the Wolfgang Friedmann Memorial Award to a distinguished scholar or practitioner who has made outstanding contributions to the field of transnational law.
In addition to her achievements as the former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Ms. Figueres has led a remarkable career and life’s work advocating for action on climate change. From the start of her career in public service as an ambassador for Costa Rica in Germany, she has held numerous roles demonstrating her commitment to international cooperation and global development: Director of International Cooperation in the Ministry of Planning in Costa Rica, Director of the Renewable Energy in the Americas Initiative, founder of the Centre for Sustainable Development of the Americas, and Vice President of the Bureau of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
As a leader of several climate change negotiations, she was tasked with the seemingly insurmountable challenge of negotiating a universally agreed regulatory framework for climate change after the failed Copenhagen conference of 2009, and yet, she directed the successful Conferences of the Parties in Cancun 2010, Durban 2011, Doha 2012, Warsaw 2013, and Lima 2014, and culminated her efforts in the historical Paris Agreement of 2015.
Her continued leadership efforts to accelerate the intentional transformation of the global economy toward low carbon and high resilience demonstrate not only her dedication to creating a clean, green, healthy world but also the breadth of her expertise in collaborative diplomacy. It is our great privilege to present Christiana Figueres with the 2022 Wolfgang Friedmann Memorial Award.