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International efforts, such as the Paris Agreement, aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But experts say countries aren’t doing enough to limit dangerous global warming.
About the Expert
Expert Bio
Alice Hill is the David M. Rubenstein senior fellow for energy and the environment at the Council on Foreign Relations. Her work at CFR focuses on the risks, consequences, and responses associated with climate change. Hill previously served as special assistant to President Barack Obama and senior director for resilience policy on the National Security Council staff where she led the development of national policy to build resilience to catastrophic risks, including climate change and biological threats. Her coauthored book, Building a Resilient Tomorrow, was published in 2019. In 2020, Yale University and the Op-Ed Project awarded her the Public Voices Fellowship on the Climate Crisis. Hill’s book, The Fight for Climate After COVID-19, was published in September 2021.
In 2009, Hill served as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in which she led the formulation of DHS's first-ever climate adaptation plan and the development of strategic plans regarding catastrophic biological and chemical threats, including pandemics. While at the Department of Homeland Security, Hill founded and led the internationally recognized anti-human trafficking initiative, the Blue Campaign. Hill served as a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution from 2016 to 2019, during which time she was awarded the National Institute of Building Sciences’ President’s Award and the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center Writing Fellowship. In 2016, Harvard University’s National Preparedness Leadership Initiative also named her Meta-Leader of the Year. Earlier in her career, Hill served as supervising judge on both the superior and municipal courts in Los Angeles and as chief of the white-collar crime prosecution unit in the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney’s office. The Department of Justice awarded her its highest accolade, the John Marshall Award for Outstanding Legal Achievement.
Hill earned her bachelor’s degree in history and economics with distinction from Stanford University and her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.
Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including Axios, The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, CNN, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Nature, and Lawfare, among others. Hill is also a contributing author to the book, Standing Up for a Sustainable World: Voices of Change, edited by Claude Henry, Johan Rockström, and Nicholas Stern.
Affiliations:
- California Insurance Commission, California insurance working group, chair
- Climate Crisis Advisory Group, member
- Crisis Response Journal, editorial advisory board member
- Environmental Defense Fund, board member
- Gateway House G20 Energy and Climate Finance Task Force, member
- Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education, advisory council member
- Global Military Advisory Council on Climate Change, advisory council member
- Munich Re America and related U.S. subsidiaries of the Munich Re Group, board member
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One Concern, advisory board member
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Red Cross Disaster Cycle Services Mission Adaptation Advisory Council, member
Current Projects
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Panelists discuss how the private and public sectors can partner to develop, scale, and utilize emerging technologies to mitigate and adapt to the consequences of climate change. The Malcolm and Carolyn Wiener Annual Lecture on Science and Technology addresses issues at the intersection of science, technology, and foreign policy. It has been endowed in perpetuity through a gift from CFR members Malcolm and Carolyn Wiener.
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Public Health Threats and Pandemics
This symposium will take stock of the lessons of COVID-19 for the foreign policy of collective action and explore how those lessons should be applied to future global health challenges. -
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Please join CFR fellows as they discuss recent developments around the world, including the ongoing war in Ukraine, tensions with China over Taiwan, the future of U.S. relations with the Middle East and Latin America, and issues concerning climate change, global supply chains, and polarization in the United States. The town hall meeting format gives members a unique opportunity to engage with CFR experts on a wide range of topics in a setting designed to promote candor.ZOOM LOG-IN INFORMATION:https://cfr.zoom.us/j/83654988598Zoom Meeting ID: 836 5498 8598Zoom Password: 104081Back-up Dial-in: +1.646.558.8656
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Our panelists review the recent COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, including climate action since the Paris Accords and how governments and businesses can step up to address the complex challenges of climate change and adaptation.
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This CFR Home and Abroad Public Forum discusses current and projected climate change, options for reducing emissions, and policies to help communities adapt to a changing climate. This event is part of CFR’s Home and Abroad series, which explores issues at the nexus of U.S. domestic and foreign policy that affect America’s role in the world.
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The Fight for Climate After COVID-19 draws on the troubled and uneven COVID-19 experience to illustrate the critical need to ramp up climate resilience rapidly and effectively on a global scale. After years of working alongside public health and resilience experts crafting policy to build both pandemic and climate change preparedness, CFR Senior Fellow Alice C. Hill exposes parallels between the underutilized measures that governments should have taken to contain the spread of COVID-19—such as early action, cross-border planning, and bolstering emergency preparation—and the steps leaders can take now to mitigate the impacts of climate change. The CFR Fellows’ Book Launch series highlights new books by CFR fellows.
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The Investing in a Sustainable Future virtual symposium was held on March 9 and 10, 2021. The event convened experts to examine how financial markets currently assess climate risk, as well as potential measures to ensure better incorporation of climate considerations. Keynote speaker Larry Fink of BlackRock discussed how investors and businesses can adapt to the challenges posed by a changing climate. Presented as part of the Rita Hauser Annual Event, the symposium was made possible by the generous support of the Hauser Foundation
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Panelists discuss the direction of U.S. climate and energy policies under the incoming Biden administration, from climate mitigation and adaptation strategies to regulating fossil fuel emissions and expanding alternate sources of energy. The Transition 2021 series examines the major issues confronting the administration in the foreign policy arena.
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The Environmental Protection Agency recently announced it would rescind some methane reporting regulations, a decision now being debated in federal court. Speakers discuss the environmental risks of methane and its effect on climate change, difficulties in detecting emissions, and current efforts in the private sector to curb methane leaks.
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Please join Alice Hill for a discussion on climate change and national security, including an assessment of the growing threats to U.S. national security from climate fueled extreme weather events and the U.S policy response to date. The CFR Master Class Series is a weekly 45-minute session hosted by Vice President and Deputy Director for Studies Shannon O’Neil in which a CFR fellow will take a step back from the news and discuss the fundamentals essential to understanding a given country, region of the world, or issue pertaining to U.S. foreign policy or international relations.
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Alice C. Hill and Leonardo Martinez-Diaz discuss their new book, Building A Resilient Tomorrow: How To Prepare For The Coming Climate Disruption. Decision-makers at all levels of government and business have been actively seeking ways to help communities build resilience to the impacts of climate change. In their book, Hill and Martinez-Diaz offer concrete, actionable policy recommendations and behind-the-scenes stories from their personal experiences in the U.S. government.
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Following the United Nation’s 2019 Climate Action Summit, panelists discuss the actions cities and countries can take to strengthen climate resilience.