Alice Hill

Alice C. Hill is the David M. Rubenstein senior fellow for energy and the environment at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is an expert on the risks, consequences, and responses associated with climate change and the author of The Fight for Climate After COVID-19 and co-author of Building a Resilient Tomorrow. Hill’s work draws on a unique blend of experience spanning service in the White House and the Department of Homeland Security, as well as her earlier career as a federal prosecutor and judge. As part of a distinguished legal career, Hill received the U.S. Department of Justice’s highest award—the John Marshall Award for Outstanding Legal Achievement.

During the Obama administration, Hill served as special assistant to the President and senior director for resilience policy on the National Security Council, where she led the development of policy addressing national security and climate change, including the first federal flood risk standard and national wildfire standard for federal buildings. Prior to joining the White House, Hill served as senior counselor to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. She developed the department’s first-ever climate adaptation plan and the internationally recognized anti-human trafficking initiative, the Blue Campaign.

Prior to joining CFR, Hill was a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, where her work focused on catastrophic risk and our responses. 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. Hill’s work is published widely in journals and newspapers, and she is a frequent commentator on TV, podcasts, and radio. In 2020, Yale University and the Op-Ed Project awarded her the Public Voices Fellowship on the Climate Crisis.

Hill serves on the boards of Munich Re North America and the Environmental Defense Fund. She also serves on the advisory boards of the Center for Climate and Security, Climate Crisis Advisory Group, Insurance for Good, International Military Council on Climate and Security, One Concern, National Parks Conservation Association, Project CASA, and University of Washington Climate Risk Lab