Adriana Gomez Sanabria

Senior Research Scholar

Pollution Management Research Group

Energy, Climate, and Environment Program

Biography

Adriana Gomez Sanabria joined IIASA in June 2015 and is currently a senior research scholar in the Pollution Management Research Group of the IIASA Energy, Climate, and Environment Program.

She holds a PhD in Natural Sciences and a master’s degree in forestry from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Austria, as well as bachelor’s and master’s degrees in environmental and health engineering from La Salle University, Colombia.

Her research focuses on assessing the environmental co-benefits of implementing circular waste and wastewater management systems at global, regional, and national levels. She develops and applies the GAINS model to evaluate the impact of policy interventions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, air pollutants, and water contamination arising from the waste and wastewater sectors.

Specific relevant expertise:
- Global, regional, and national assessments of air pollutants and GHG emissions from the solid waste and wastewater sectors
- Assessment of co-benefits from global adoption of circular waste management systems to mitigate GHGs and air pollutants
- GHG mitigation potentials in the solid waste and wastewater sector in the context of the 1.5°C targets.

Last update: 14 MAY 2025

Publications

Gomez Sanabria, A. , Kiesewetter, G. , Klimont, Z. , Schöpp, W. , & Haberl, H. (2021). Potentials for future reductions of global GHG and air pollutants from circular municipal waste management systems (supplementary data). 10.22022/ECE/10-2021.17598.

Höglund-Isaksson, L. , Winiwarter, W. , Purohit, P. , Gomez-Sanabria, A. , Rafaj, P. , Warnecke, L. , & Schöpp, W. (2021). Non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in the EU-27 from 2005 to 2070 with mitigation potentials and costs: GAINS model methodology. IIASA Report. Laxenburg, Austria: IIASA

Dianati, K., Schäfer, L., Milner, J., Gomez Sanabria, A. , Gitau, H., Hale, J., Langmaack, H., Kiesewetter, G. , Muindi, K., Mberu, B., Zimmermann, N., Michie, S., Wilkinson, P., & Davies, M. (2021). A System Dynamics-based Scenario Analysis of Residential Solid Waste Management in Kisumu, Kenya. Science of the Total Environment 777 e146200. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146200.

European Commission, (2021). EU reference scenario 2020: energy, transport and GHG emissions : trends to 2050. Luxembourg: Publications Office. ISBN 978-92-76-39356-6

Gomez Sanabria, A. , Zusman, E., Höglund-Isaksson, L. , Klimont, Z. , Lee, S.-Y., Akahoshi, K., Farzaneh, H., & Chairunnisa, (2020). Sustainable wastewater management in Indonesia's fish processing industry: Bringing governance into scenario analysis. Journal of Environmental Management 275 e111241. 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111241.