In the lead-up to complex negotiations, great leaders recognize the importance not only of motivating their followers, but of readying themselves for the challenges ahead. A new, three-part case study from the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC) at the Program on Negotiation (PON), “Christiana Figueres leads the UNFCCC Secretariat,” illustrates this principle in the context of the 2015 Paris climate change agreement.
In 2022, PON selected Costa Rican diplomat Christiana Figueres as the recipient of its Great Negotiator Award for her work as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The new case study, “Christiana Figueres leads the UNFCCC Secretariat,” shows how Figueres readied herself, her staff, and the broader ecosystem to pass a groundbreaking global climate change agreement.
As Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, Figueres was tasked with a seemingly insurmountable challenge: spearheading negotiations for an impactful, global climate agreement to save the planet. Following the dramatic failure of the 2009 Copenhagen summit, many believed such an agreement was not possible. But thanks in part to Figueres’ persistent optimism and targeted interventions, the Paris Agreement, a bold new framework for international climate agreements, was unanimously adopted in 2015 by the 196 participating nations.
As depicted in the case, Figueres had to personally undergo a transformation to let go of her identity as a Costa Rican diplomat so she could approach the negotiations from a global perspective and meet each participating nation from its vantage point. The two-week conference in Paris was the culmination of a years-long series of actions taken by Figueres and others to help enhance the probability of a successful outcome at the negotiating table. This preparatory work included discussions with private industry groups, repeated talks with the Saudi government, and the launch of Operation Groundswell, a small team of strategic influencers working behind the scenes to build support for an ambitious outcome. By bringing different coalitions of countries and non-state actors together, Figueres and her team laid the groundwork for an expansive agreement.
“Christiana Figueres leads the UNFCCC Secretariat” uses Figueres’ leadership of the UNFCCC and the 2015 Paris Agreement to teach leadership-as-negotiation in complex, divided systems. Major lessons of this case include:
- Diagnosing adaptive challenges across multiple levels. Students see how Figueres distinguishes technical fixes from adaptive challenges and maps the gap between “reality” and “aspiration” at three scales: the global climate regime, the COP process, and the UNFCCC Secretariat.
- Leading through four concentric circles of impact. The case illustrates how Figueres designed linked interventions at four levels—the self, the Secretariat, UNFCCC member states, and nonparty stakeholders—to point the whole ecosystem toward agreement. Students learn to see leadership as working within a system rather than simply within a single organization or negotiation room.
- Integrating Outside‑In and Inside‑Out leadership. By pairing Figueres’s process moves (faction mapping, redesigning decision rules, pacing toward Paris) with her inner work (including navigating identity, trauma, “stubborn optimism,” and “lines of code”), the case teaches that effective leadership in complex negotiations requires both sharp external analysis and sustained personal work.
- Reframing process, language, and relationships to rebuild trust. After Copenhagen, Figueres helped shift various climate stakeholders from secrecy, blame, and opposition to transparency, inclusion, and shared responsibility. Students see how redesigning rules (e.g., toward unanimity, a single negotiating text, and the use of indabas) and language, and engaging perceived spoilers through deep listening, can convert confrontation into collaboration.
Download a free preview copy of the Figueres Case Study Teacher’s Package to learn more about this case.
About the Authors:
James K. Sebenius is the Gordon Donaldson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and director of the Harvard Negotiation Project; Laurence A. Green is a Senior Fellow of the Harvard Negotiation Project and Adjunct Lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School; Hannah Riley Bowles is the Roy E. Larsen Senior Lecturer in Public Policy and Management at Harvard Kennedy School; Lara SanPietro is the Negotiation Pedagogy Manager at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School; Mina Subramanian is the head of Spring Forward Climate, a youth-led climate education organization; Farayi Chipungu is an Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School; Géraud Bablon is a leadership educator and urban planner; and Katherine Shonk is a Harvard Kennedy School research associate.
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