Ex-Obama advisor says global events are overshadowing climate change efforts: ‘We are not acting swiftly enough’

Ex-Obama advisor says global events are overshadowing climate change efforts: ‘We are not acting swiftly enough’

The COP27 climate conference represents an opportunity to move forward, but a significant ramping up of efforts will be required in the years ahead, according to a former special assistant to President Barack Obama. Speaking at CNBC's Sustainable Future Forum last week, Alice Hill was asked if she was optimistic or very concerned about the pace of change.  "Very concerned — we are not acting swiftly enough, and the impacts and the danger [are] … overtaking our efforts," Hill, who is now a senior energy fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told CNBC's Steve Sedgwick. COP27, which is being held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, is taking place at a time of significant global volatility. War, economic challenges and the Covid-19 pandemic are all casting long shadows over its proceedings. During her interview with CNBC, it was put to Hill that climate change often slipped down the pecking order compared to other global challenges and events. It was a viewpoint she seemed to align with. "Climate change has suffered from the problem that I learned in the White House," she said. "When I worked in the White House, [it] quickly became apparent that the urgent would overtake the important,"