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This year our footprint has gone down, but that has come at a huge human cost. There's no way we can aspire to decarbonise the way we have done this year, that's not responsible, the human cost cannot be sustained. We need responsible decarbonisation that creates jobs, creates wellbeing, and leaves the climate net better at the end.
— Christiana Figueres
Former UN Climate Change Executive Secretary & Global Climate Action Leader
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Most people think of optimism as a celebration, but for us optimism is a courageous choice to remain grittily determined to find solutions in a timely and collaborative way. We have no choice but to address climate change, and thus we have no choice but to remain stubbornly optimistic.
— Christiana Figueres
Former UN Climate Change Executive Secretary & Global Climate Action Leader
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It's sad that we don't immediately see the profound injustices embedded in climate change. It is precisely those people who have no responsibility for having caused climate change who are the most vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate.
— Christiana Figueres
Former UN Climate Change Executive Secretary & Global Climate Action Leader
"
If you don't believe in climate change, it is like telling me you don't believe in gravity. I don't care if you don't believe in gravity and I don't care if you don't believe in climate change… both are affecting you, and there's nothing you can do to deny or neutralize either of them.
— Christiana Figueres
Former UN Climate Change Executive Secretary & Global Climate Action Leader
"
I was a young mother with 2 small daughters and saw that the planet I was bringing my children into was one that was already severely diminished compared to the planet I received from my parents. How can any parent want their children to inherit a planet that's worse than the one they received?
— Christiana Figueres
Former UN Climate Change Executive Secretary & Global Climate Action Leader
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If you view the world from a moral perspective, you have no option but to address climate change in a timely fashion. The good news is that the moral imperative is backed-up by economics, technological advance and capital shifts.
— Christiana Figueres
Former UN Climate Change Executive Secretary & Global Climate Action Leader
"
It's sad that we don't immediately see the profound injustices embedded in climate change. It is precisely those people who have no responsibility for having caused climate change who are the most vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate.
— Christiana Figueres
Former UN Climate Change Executive Secretary & Global Climate Action Leader
"
If you don't believe in climate change, it is like telling me you don't believe in gravity. I don't care if you don't believe in gravity and I don't care if you don't believe in climate change… both are affecting you, and there's nothing you can do to deny or neutralize either of them.
— Christiana Figueres
Former UN Climate Change Executive Secretary & Global Climate Action Leader
"
I was a young mother with 2 small daughters and saw that the planet I was bringing my children into was one that was already severely diminished compared to the planet I received from my parents. How can any parent want their children to inherit a planet that's worse than the one they received?
— Christiana Figueres
Former UN Climate Change Executive Secretary & Global Climate Action Leader