Dancing Queen Becomes Climate Queen

Published on

May 31, 2016

The ABBA classic ‘Dancing Queen’ was elevated to United Nations status last week, as an adapted version of the 1976 smash was sung by envoys in tribute to the departing Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Christiana Figueres. Click above to see how the dancing queen became the “climate queen.”

Costa Rican Figueres (pictured here), who has led the talks since 2010, has been widely admired for her role in persuading 195 countries to approve the Paris Agreement on climate change that was reached last December. She will leave her Executive Secretary post in July.

Last week, at the informal closing of two weeks of talks in Bonn, Switzerland and at the end of a series of personal tributes to Figueres from her international colleagues, representatives of green group Climate Action Network paid their respects in this unusual way, as the CAN Chorus. It may not be the most musical version of ‘Dancing Queen’ you’ve heard, but it was certainly heartfelt.