The B Team announced today that Christiana Figueres, an internationally recognized leader on global climate change who helped secure the historic Paris Agreement in 2015, will join co-founders Richard Branson, Jochen Zeitz, and 21 other leaders from business and civil society in their collective effort to redefine the role of business as a force for social, environmental and economic benefit.

As the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 2010-2016, Figueres’ forged a new brand of collaborative diplomacy - bringing together governments, corporations, activists, financial institutions, think tanks and communities of faith - which helped generate the political will necessary to secure an ambitious, long-term agreement in Paris.

She is currently the convener of Mission 2020, a global initiative that seeks to ensure the world bends the curve of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 in order to protect the most vulnerable from the worst impacts of climate change and usher in an era of stability and prosperity.

“We couldn’t be more pleased to welcome Christiana to The B Team,” said Keith Tuffley, The B Team’s CEO and Managing Partner. “We are in full support of her efforts to elevate the urgency of peaking emissions by 2020 to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change. It’s an ambitious but absolutely vital goal which requires engaging with business at the highest level, and aligns perfectly with The B Team’s mission.”

“In order to be a decarbonized economy by 2050, we have to bend the emissions curve by 2020," said Christiana Figueres. "Not only is it urgent and necessary, but actually we are very nicely on our way to achieving it thanks in part to the leadership and vision of organizations like The B Team. I’m therefore delighted to join such an esteemed and influential group to help accelerate the pace of change to ensure we stay firmly on the path laid down by the Paris Agreement.”

Figueres will help to propel and expand the ambition of The B Team’s Net Zero by 2050 initiative, which seeks to galvanize bold climate action by companies, and support the implementation of ambitious climate policy in three ways:

• Expanding the number of CEOs and companies taking their own climate commitments to action, and advocating for other companies to follow their lead, as well as pushing for enabling policies at the national and global level.
• Equipping sitting and aspiring board directors with the knowledge and tools needed to guide their companies to net zero greenhouse gas emissions, and supporting the execution of other climate-related commitments.
• Helping companies to understand the just transition, by developing company-level guidance which enables them to help their workforces, supply chains and the communities survive and thrive as we shift to a clean energy economy.

In addition to her work with The B Team and Mission 2020, Figueres’ responsibilities include:

• Vice Chair of the Global Covenant of Mayors
• Climate Leader for the World Bank
• Distinguished Fellow of Conservation International
• Board member of Climate Works and the World Resources Institute
• Member of the Rockefeller Foundation Economic Council on Planetary Health
• Member of the Leadership Council of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves

For more information, contact: David Stearns, Director of Communications, The B Team via ds@bteam.org or Zoe Tcholak-Antitch, Senior Advisor, Strategic Communications, Mission 2020 via zantitch@mission2020.global.