Expertise: Conference of the Parties (COP)

Helen Mountford

Helen Mountford is the president and CEO of ClimateWorks Foundation, a global platform for philanthropy to innovate and scale high-impact climate solutions that benefit people and the planet. She brings almost 30 years of global experience at the intersection of environmental action, economic development, and climate policy to her role.

Before joining ClimateWorks, Helen was the vice president of climate and economics at World Resources Institute where she led global teams to advance policies and economic approaches to successfully address climate change. Helen was also the program director for the New Climate Economy project, a flagship initiative of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate that provided independent and authoritative evidence on actions which can both strengthen climate ambition and deliver social and economic benefits.

Helen previously was the deputy director of environment for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). 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 modeling. 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 Environmental Management from the University of Melbourne. She has a BA in Philosophy and History.

Xiaohua Zhang

Xiaohua is the Senior Director of ClimateWorks’ China Program where he manages the overall operation of the Program and our direct grantmaking to support climate action in China.

Prior to joining ClimateWorks Foundation, he was the senior policy advisor on climate action and cooperation in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, headed the International Cooperation Department of China’s National Centre for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation and served as program officer of UNFCCC secretariat. He started his career as the assistant researcher in Tsinghua University.

He has a Ph.D in nuclear engineering from Tsinghua University.

Lindsey Allen

A lifelong environmental and human rights advocate, Lindsey Allen has engaged some of the world’s largest companies in cleaning up their environmentally destructive practices while inspiring powerful mobilizations for environmental and social justice.

Lindsey most recently served as Chief Program Officer at Greenpeace USA where she oversaw strategy and climate, forests, oceans, and democracy campaigns. Lindsey previously spent almost a decade with Rainforest Action Network, serving as the Executive Director during a time of significant growth and increased focus on diversity and justice reform. Lindsey began her career as a forest campaigner, working to end destruction of the Amazon rainforest and North American Boreal forest. Motivated by the urgency to accelerate justice and climate action,

Lindsey is deeply committed to protecting forests, lands, and the rights of Indigenous and frontline communities to create a just and liveable future. Lindsey graduated from Humboldt State University with a BA in Anthropology.

Rebecca Fisher

Rebecca Fisher is the Drive Electric Program Director. She has almost a decade of experience in sustainable international development, climate finance, and electric vehicle technology and policy.

Before joining ClimateWorks, Rebecca worked on light-duty EV grant programs and policy development at the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Prior to moving back to the west coast, Rebecca was a climate finance negotiator for the Obama Administration, representing the United States during the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals negotiations. She serves on the National Board of Directors of the Electric Auto Association, where she supports the Association’s mission to accelerate widespread adoption of EVs.

Rebecca holds a Master of Environment Economics and Sustainable International Development from Duke University and a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Brandeis University.

Josefina Cobián

Josefina is Program Manager for ClimateWorks’ Global Intelligence team. She co-manages a cross department initiative, the independent Global Stocktake which secretariat resides at ClimateWorks. As part of the Global Intelligence team, Josefina leads the development of new workstreams on climate impacts and the expansion of social, political, and economic work in Latin America and the Caribbean. She also manages exploratory work on AI and digital infrastructure and technologies. 

Josefina has more than 7 years of environmental work experience in government, private, and non-profit sectors in Mexico, Japan, Honduras, Ecuador and the US. Prior to ClimateWorks, she worked on climate change and forest policy as a project manager for the federal Commission of Forestry in Mexico and as an independent consultant with Mexico and Honduras. Additionally, she was a forest policy fellow at the Environmental Defense Fund where she co-wrote a paper published in Forests journal. Josefina holds a Master of Environmental Management degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and an Environmental Engineering degree from ITESO University in Mexico. When not working on climate change issues, she enjoys traveling, exploring the bay area, baking and painting.

Jason Anderson

As a Senior Program Director, Jason Anderson oversees the Governance & Diplomacy and Super Pollutant programs at ClimateWorks. His work spans efforts ranging from implementing the Paris Agreement to cleaning up dirty shipping and preventing methane leakage.

Jason has over 25 years of experience in climate and clean energy, beginning in the solar energy conversion office at the U.S. Department of Energy, which led him to promote photovoltaics for rural electrification in Central America. Jason then worked in a range of climate organizations in Brussels for 15 years, ranging from Climate Action Network Europe to the Institute for European Environmental Policy to the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF). Jason was a lead author of the IPCC special reports on ozone and climate interactions, and on carbon capture and storage; in 2007 Jason was acknowledged for his contribution to the IPCC’s Nobel Peace Prize.

Jason holds a Masters in Public Policy degree and a Masters in Science in energy and resources from the University of California Berkeley, and a degree in biological anthropology from Harvard University.

Casey Cronin

At ClimateWorks, Casey Cronin’s primary responsibilities include management of Global Intelligence team activities as well as providing a holistic view of ClimateWorks’ grantmaking portfolio and to provide advice and insights into philanthropic opportunities and risks. Further, he leads aligned Global Intelligence and programs workplans related to international policy and the UNFCCC, especially in areas related to Global Intelligence efforts tracking collective progress toward long term climate goals.

Prior to ClimateWorks, he was a Senior Account Executive at Antenna Group, a strategic communications agency representing clean technology companies focused on alternative energy, energy efficiency, storage, pollution remediation, etc. While there, he developed industry experience with silicon and thin film PV, concentrating PV, utility-scale solar thermal, algal biofuels, and other emerging clean energy technologies. Mr. Cronin has an M.Sc. in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University and a B.A. in Development Studies and Economics from Brown University.

Surabi Menon

Dr. Surabi Menon is a leading climate scientist with over 25 years of experience in the field of climate change and vice president of Global Intelligence at ClimateWorks Foundation.

At ClimateWorks, Surabi plays a pivotal role advancing climate philanthropy by offering a global perspective on climate solutions, identifying investment trends, funding gaps, and action on high-impact opportunities. In 2023, Surabi served as the Executive Director of Partnerships for the UAE government for the Conference of Parties (COP28) in the UAE.

Surabi is currently a member of the advisory council of the Integrated Assessment Modeling Consortium, and Chair of the Science Advisory Council for the Carbon Technology Research Foundation, based in Oxford, UK. She was a charter member of the U.S. EPA’s Science Advisory Board (2012-2018) and has served on many other Boards and advisory councils.

Prior to joining ClimateWorks, Surabi was a climate scientist at Columbia University and NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York and later a staff scientist and leader of the Heat Island Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California. She has published numerous peer-reviewed publications and co-authored the 2007 IPCC report that was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. She has a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science and an MBA in Sustainable Management.