Jorge Gastelumendi is Arsht-Rock’s senior director. In this role, he leads the center, overseeing the center’s three strategic pillars: extreme heat resilience, adaptation policy and finance, and climate games and technology. As a recognized climate and environmental policy and finance leader, Gastelumendi brings over 25 years of climate and policy experience.  

Before joining the Resilience Center, he held positions at the Nature Conservancy (TNC), where he served as Managing Director of External Affairs for Global Strategies and previously served as head of TNC’s International Climate Finance Team. He also served as chief advisor and negotiator to the government of Peru, playing a critical role during the adoption of the Paris Agreement in the government’s dual role as UNFCCC COP20 Presidency and co-chair of the Green Climate Fund’s board. Earlier in his career, Gastelumendi was a carbon fund manager at the World Bank’s Carbon Finance Unit. He also worked as a natural resources lawyer in Peru for over a decade.  

Driven by a commitment to protect the communities most vulnerable to climate impacts, Gastelumendi joined the center in January 2020. He advances our critical political and economic work through the Atlantic Council’s global platform and scale. With deep and broad geopolitical experience, relationships, and renowned high performance in delivering policy and public finance solutions, Gastelumendi is naturally suited to bring his leadership to address climate challenges. During his tenure at the center, he has also held the role of the Race to Resilience co-lead for the UN High-Level Climate Champions. 

Gastelumendi’s analysis has been featured in outlets including Project Syndicate and Marsh McLennan.  

Gastelumendi holds a JD from Peru’s Catholic University, a master’s in energy and the environment from the University of Calgary and a master’s in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.  

Featured work

Report

Uncovered: The real burden of heat. How disaster risk finance can save lives.

This report explores how communities can begin to use disaster risk finance to address the larger, often hidden, costs of extreme heat.

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Call for Collaboration

Call for Collaboration: An invitation to governments to mobilise private finance for adaptation and resilience

At COP28, this call for collaboration was announced to mobilize the private financial sector’s role in the creation of an enabling environment for increased private finance for climate adaptation and resilience.

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