Christiana Figueres joins the expedition of 79 female scientists who leave for Antarctica on 31 December

• The expedition culminates the third Homeward Bound programme, sponsored by ACCIONA, which enhances the visibility of women in science and their role in mitigating climate change

On 31 December, Christiana Figueres, a leader in the fight against climate change and a defender of female empowerment, will join another 79 female scientists on an expedition to Antarctica that will last until 19 January.

The expedition culminates the third edition of the Australian Homeward Bound programme, sponsored by ACCIONA, whose objective is to create, over a period of ten years, an international network of 1,000 leading female scientists to combat climate change, working together on projects in a range of areas that impact diverse communities, giving visibility to women in science.

The Homeward Bound participants, from 35 different nationalities, will meet in Ushaia, the jump-off point for the expedition, and will start off the New Year by crossing the Drake Passage.

Over three weeks, Figueres and the other programme members will gain a first-hand impression of the effects of global warming, and they will visit international bases and create work groups to develop projects, conduct research and cooperate to mitigate climate change.

“I am delighted to participate in this expedition, which combines two of my great passions: renewable energy and women's leadership,” said Christiana Figueres. “These two passions have something in common: making use of resources that have been underutilised or wasted to date. Up to now, we have confined ourselves to using finite resources, but we are now supporting the use of renewable resources. The same can be said of women's leadership. We have confined ourselves to using 50% of the potential of humanity, that of men. Homeward Bound, which is sponsored by ACCIONA, enables us to advance towards exploiting 100% of human potential to obtain better results and create a better world for our children."

ABOUT CHRISTIANA FIGUERES

One of the leading women worldwide in the field of climate change, this Costa Rican anthropologist is currently an ACCIONA Board member, and was formerly Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 2012 to 2016, participating in the negotiations of the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol. Figueres is currently the coordinator of Mission 2020, a global initiative that seeks to ensure that global greenhouse gas emissions begin their decline by 2020, to protect the most vulnerable from the worst impacts of climate change and to inaugurate in an era of stability and prosperity.

You can follow the expedition through this link.