From left: Barbara Creecy, Marina Silva, Mia Mottley, Jennifer Morgan, Eve Bazaiba
Photo illustration: 731; Photos: Bloomberg (3), Getty Images (1), AP Photo (1)
Women Are Leading the Fight to Stop Climate Change
A new cast of leaders is taking over the world’s efforts to halt global warming as familiar climate diplomats step aside.
Over the past few years, international climate policy has been shaped largely by a close-knit group of politicians in the twilight of their careers. Now leaders from beyond the traditional US-Europe-China power center—some new to the international stage, others already veterans—are emerging. And women are at the forefront.
“Women are now the decision makers that can increase the likelihood of impactful decisions that actually stick,” says Jennifer Morgan, Germany’s special climate envoy. After all, she says, it was two women — Laurence Tubiana, France’s climate envoy, and Christiana Figueres, who ran the United Nations’ climate body — who helped broker the landmark Paris Agreement in 2015 to slow global warming.