Short Profile:

Helen Laubenstein is a doctoral researcher interested in the economics of climate adaptation on global coasts. She is working on the economic assessment of nature-based solutions, and particularly coastal wetlands. She is engaged in the REST-COAST and DECIPHER projects, both EU-funded research initiatives (Horizon2020).

Before joining GCF, Helen worked as Policy Analyst at the OECD for several years. In the team on Water and Adaptation, she consulted governments on water strategies, with a focus on financing, e.g. in projects with the European Commission. She has organized multiple OECD Roundtable meetings on Financing Water with regional and thematic focusses (such as on ‘climate’ and ‘agriculture’). Helen co-authored a major OECD report on Water Finance and authored the chapter on Financing for the UN flagship publication World Water Development Report 2023 (to be published in March 2023).

Helen holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Policy from Sciences Po Paris and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from University Heidelberg. During her studies, she spent exchange semesters at Ateneo de Manila University, the Philippines, and at Université de Montpellier, France.

Helen was awarded a merit-based scholarship from the Berlin School of Economics for her doctoral studies. She was fellow of the Carlo-Schmid-Program during her work at the OECD, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. During her Bachelor and Master studies, she was granted the merit-based scholarship from Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, and was elected scholars’ representative for the regional group Paris.

Current Projects:

REST-COAST, DECIPHER

Selected Publications:

• UNESCO (forthcoming) World Water Development Report 2023, Chapter 11: Financing
• OECD (2022), Financing a Water Secure Future, OECD Studies on Water, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/a2ecb261-en.
• Guerrero, S. et al. (2021), Characterising agri-environmental policies: Towards measuring their progress, OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Papers, No. 155, OECD Publishing, Paris

Background papers (selection):

• OECD (2022), The Economic Aspects of Implementing the EU Water Framework and Floods Directives, OECD – European Commission DG Environment Initiative:
  • Water Investment Planning and Financing.
  • Cost recovery
• OECD (2021), Aligning and scaling up financing flows for water security and climate action, OECD Background paper for the 8th Roundtable on Financing Water
• OECD (2020), Recent developments on the EU sustainable finance agenda and the implications for water, OECD Background paper for the 6th Roundtable on Financing Water