Helen Mountford is the Vice President for Climate and Economics at WRI. The Climate team helps policymakers, businesses and civil society in countries around the world and through international collaboration to identify and advance the deep structural shifts needed to successfully address climate change. The Economics team supports work across WRI by integrating an economics approach as appropriate to strengthen the underlying analysis and impact of our work. Helen is also Program Director for the New Climate Economy (NCE) project, the flagship initiative of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate that provides independent and authoritative evidence on actions which can both strengthen economic performance and reduce the risk of dangerous climate change.

Helen previously worked as Deputy Director of Environment for the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). She worked at OECD for over 16 years advising governments on policy reforms, and overseeing work on green fiscal reform, climate change finance and economics, fossil fuel subsidy reforms, green growth, water pricing, biodiversity incentive measures, and economy-environment outlooks and modelling. Prior to joining the OECD, Helen managed recycling schemes in England and worked for an NGO in Australia.

Helen holds Masters degrees in Environmental Economics from University College London and in Environmental Management from University of Melbourne. She has a BA in Philosophy and History.