UN climate change chief steps down after historic Paris deal

Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UNFCCC, announces she will step down in July after successful Paris climate agreement to cut emissions

The UN's climate chief said on Friday she will step down in July, at the end of a six-year term, and praised governments for reaching a 195-nation deal in Paris in December to shift the world economy from fossil fuels to cleaner energies.

Christiana Figueres, a 59-year-old Costa Rican, said she would not accept any extension of her term as head of the Bonn-based UN Climate Change Secretariat after what she called the historic Paris Agreement.