julia thayne

Julia Thayne is speaking at a climate conference about the importance of technology, finance, and community benefit to sustainability. She is wearing a red blazer and seated on a fluffy white chair on a conference stage.

Julia builds climate solutions for cities and people. With 15+ years of experience across business, government, and not-for-profit sectors, she has dedicated her career to designing and implementing transformative technologies, policies, and projects that bridge people and planet.

Julia is a 2026 Loeb Fellow at Harvard University and co-founder of the climate advisory firm Twoº & Rising. At Harvard, Julia teaches students about how cities set and meet sustainability targets. She also co-leads a Salata Institute research grant on the environment and social impacts of hyperscale data centers in the U.S. At Twoº & Rising, Julia partners with companies, governments, and investors to scale solutions that keep global warming below 2 degrees by 2030.

Previously, Julia served as Senior Principal at the global climate non-profit Rocky Mountain Institute. She led teams of 100+ experts across 4 organizations and budgets of $16M+ to provide research and technical support accelerating first-of-a-kind investments to decarbonize industry, aviation, shipping, and trucking. She was also Clean Industrial Hub Director for the non-profit Mission Possible Partnership, co-leading a 2-year, $24M grant from the Bezos Earth Fund.

Prior to RMI, Julia 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. There, she launched one of the country’s first public-private partnerships on transportation technology, Urban Movement Labs. Julia 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, CNN, Fast Company, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, CityLab, Vox, Governing Magazine, Quartz, and Curbed.

While she proudly hails from Atlanta and Los Angeles, she currently lives in Cambridge, MA.

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