Hilary French

Hilary French is the Regional Sub-Programme Coordinator for Chemicals and Pollution Action and Finance and Economic Transformations at the United Nations Environment Programme’s North America Office. Hilary previously served as the office’s regional coordinator for climate change and as a special advisor to the organization on a broad range of issues, including globalization and the environment, sustainable consumption and production, and civil society engagement. She came to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) from the Worldwatch Institute, where she served in diverse capacities, including as Vice President for Research, as Director of the Globalization and Governance Project, as Senior Advisor for Programs, and as a Senior Researcher.

Hilary has published and lectured widely on global environmental and sustainable development issues, including co-authoring fifteen of Worldwatch’s annual State of the World reports and authoring the book Vanishing Borders: Protecting the Planet in the Age of Globalization. She is also the author of six Worldwatch Papers, including Partnerships for the Planet: an Environmental Agenda for the United Nations and Clearing the Air: a Global Agenda.  She earlier worked briefly for Ashoka, a global association of social entrepreneurs, and interned with the United Nations Development Programme in the Ivory Coast and with the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research in Geneva.  Hilary has also worked as a consultant to private foundations and as a Visiting Professor at Williams College. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College and of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.