The Rio Climate Challenge was a side event of the Rio + 20 Conference. 14 different countries participated and prepared recommendations for the official conference that were distributed to all delegations and a set a more detailed ones that were handed to the UNFCCC Executive Secretary, Christiana Figueres, who took part in the event. It was preceded by a preparatory meeting, in Recife, in April that also had the presence of several international climate leaders. The Rio Climate Challenge 2012 was when the Brazilian Climate Center was conceived as a think tank and started to operate informally. It would be officially launched in 2015.