julia thayne

With more than 15 years of experience across public, private, and not-for-profit sectors, Julia has dedicated her career to transforming ideas into impact, founding and leading organizations, strategies, and teams for equitable climate action. She is co-founder of the advisory firm Twoº & Rising, where she partners with companies, governments, and investors to scale solutions for the climate crisis and keep global warming below 2 degrees by 2030.

Julia served as Senior Principal at the global climate non-profit Rocky Mountain Institute, where she led a team of 20 direct reports, a grant team of 100+, and a budget of $16M+ to accelerate first-of-a-kind investments in decarbonizing industry, aviation, shipping, and trucking. She was Clean Industrial Hub Director for the non-profit Mission Possible Partnership, co-leading a 2-year, $24M grant from the Bezos Earth Fund.

Previously, she served as the Executive Officer of Economic Development for Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, overseeing 8 City departments, including the Airports and Port, and disbursing $150M in financial assistance to businesses and NGOs during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also worked as a sustainability product manager and trusted advisor to 35+ cities globally at the top global infrastructure and technology firm Siemens.

Julia is trained as an economist and urban designer, and enjoys being a podcast and YouTube channel host and conference emcee. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, L.A. Times, Fast Company, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, CityLab, Vox, Governing Magazine, Quartz, and Curbed. While she is proudly from Atlanta, she currently calls Los Angeles home.