UN-Climate has a new face.

Simon Stiell, a former minister from Grenada, was appointed executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on Monday, as countries on the frontlines face 'loss and damage' from the impacts of global warming, such as his, are now a key issue in climate negotiations.

This long-time defender of the fight against climate change will succeed the Mexican Patricia Espinosa at the UNFCCC, within which all climate negotiations take place, including within the framework of the Paris Agreement.

Former Minister of Climate Resilience

He should take office "soon", said the spokesperson for the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, thus implying that he would be in post for the next UN climate conference, COP27, in Egypt in november.

This appointment by the Secretary General was endorsed by the UNFCCC bureau, which includes representatives from all regional groups.

A member of the government of Grenada from March 2013 to June 2022, Simon Stiell notably served for five years as Minister of the Environment and Climate Resilience.

He tirelessly called during the Climate COPs to do more against global warming, in particular within the Coalition for High Ambition, which brings together countries pushing for more ambition in the reduction of greenhouse gases.

“Congratulations to one of the most dedicated climate defenders in the Caribbean,” reacted on Twitter the Alliance of Small Island States Aosis, of which Grenada is a member.

These States, like many other developing countries, are not responsible for global warming but are on the front line of its impacts, suffering in particular from an increase in storms and being threatened by rising sea levels.

“Loss and damage”, a crucial point of the negotiations

The issue of “loss and damage” already caused by global warming has become a crucial point in climate negotiations and should be a major issue at COP27.

Adding to the questions of ambition in the reduction of emissions to hope to respect the Paris agreement, of adaptation to the impacts, and of financing.

Simon Stiell will therefore replace Patricia Espinosa, who has served two terms at the head of the UNFCCC since 2016. The Mexican's second term ended in mid-July, and pending the appointment of a successor, the Mauritanian Ibrahim Thiaw had been appointed ad interim, assuming at the same time his duties as Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Desertification.

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