Security Risks of Climate Action

Speaker: Andrew Gilmour (Berghof Foundation)

Date: 15 January 2025

Speaker Session Summary

Forthcoming!

Speaker Session Recording

Also forthcoming!

Briefing Materials

Biography: Andrew Gilmour is Executive Director of the Berghof Foundation. Before joining the Berghof Foundation in May 2020, Andrew served 30 years at the United Nations, most recently as Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights from 2016 to 2019 and as Political Director in the Office of the Secretary-General in New York from 2012 to 2016. He previously held senior UN positions in numerous conflict zones including Iraq, South Sudan, the Middle East, the Balkans, Afghanistan and West Africa.

With masters degrees from Oxford University and the London School of Economics, Andrew was later an Adjunct Fellow of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. In 2019 Andrew was awarded a Visiting Fellowship at All Souls College Oxford to research links between climate change, human rights and conflict. In 2020 he became a Senior Fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. His writing has appeared in numerous publications such as the New York Times, Financial Times, The Economist and many others. In his recent book The Burning Question. Climate and conflict – why does it matter? he explores how climate change contributes to conflict and how solutions can be advanced. A British national whose home-base is in Scotland, Andrew is married with four children. His interests are in classical music, forestry, environment, literature and history.