Lisa is directing the formation of the Joint Benefits Authority [PDF] in the Bay Area, a tool that allows multiple city agencies to work together, in collaboration with communities, to finance and deliver transformative and resilient nature-based solutions.

She comes to this work as a manager for Urban Water Infrastructure at the World Resources Institute, where she is responsible for developing and scaling financially innovative, environmentally-sustainable municipal water management solutions in cities across the country. As part of the Cities4Forests and Natural Infrastructure Initiatives at WRI, the goal of this work is to capture the benefits of urban greening through advance capital planning and integrated project delivery that attracts new investment.

Harriet leads the Naturvation initiative–an ambitious, multi-year, EU-wide undertaking that has been working to research, identify and overcome barriers to implementing nature-based solutions. From 2016-2021, she coordinated the initiative’s H2020 project examining the role of urban innovation in nature-based solutions for sustainable development. She has also undertaken commissioned research for the UK Government, the European Commission, various NGOs, UN-Habitat, the OECD and the World Bank, and holds joint appointments as professor in the Department of Geography at Durham University and at Utrecht University’s Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development. Her research focuses on environmental governance and the politics of climate change, energy, nature and sustainable cities. Since 2016, Harriet has been included four times in the Highly Cited Researchers list of the top one percent of researchers internationally. In 2019, she was elected as a fellow of both the Academy of the Social Sciences and the British Academy. She holds a doctorate degree from the University of Cambridge.