Caroline Zimm
Senior Research Scholar
Transformative Institutional and Social Solutions Research Group
Energy, Climate, and Environment Program
Senior Research Scholar
Equity and Justice Research Group
Population and Just Societies Program
Biography
Caroline Zimm is a research scholar jointly associated with the Transformative Institutional and Social Solutions (TISS) Research Group of the IIASA Energy, Climate, and Environment (ECE) Program and the Equity and Justice (EQU) Research Group of the Population and Just Societies (POPJUS) Program.
She currently works on the international research initiatives of the Earth Commission of the Global Commons Alliance. Her research is concerned with the diffusion of innovations for sustainable development, inequalities across countries, and transformative development pathways for humanity within a stable Earth system.
Prior to joining IIASA in 2014, she worked in development cooperation and on consulting projects in the field of rural energy supply, energy access, and climate change. She held positions with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), a private consulting firm, and the German Development Agency (GIZ), where she was based in Cambodia and India.
Zimm received her PhD from the University of Technology in Vienna, Austria (Energy Economics Group), focusing on the early stage of electric vehicle diffusion. She holds a master’s degree in environmental and resource management from the University of Applied Life Sciences Vienna, where she majored in renewable energies, a diploma (MBA equiv.) in international business administration from the University for Economics and Business Administration Vienna, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Vienna.
Last update: 17 DEC 2025
Publications
Pereira, L., Gibson, M.F., Abrams, J.F., Brutschin, E. , Cardenas, J.C., Cheung, W.W.L., Claudet, J., Cornell, S.E., Daioglou, V., Durán, A.P., Gomez-Baggethun, E., Harrison, P.A., Hebden, S., Johnson, J.A., Jouffray, J.-B., Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen, S., Keys, P.W., Kim, H., Kok, M.T.J., Lundquist, C.J., Lenton, T.M., Mason-D’Croz, D., McElwee, P., Munera-Roldan, C., Nakicenovic, N. , Norström, A.V., Nyasulu, M.K., Peterson, G.D., Pinho, P., Popp, A., Riahi, K. , Sumaila, U.R., Tobian, A., Winkelmann, R., Wunderling, N., van Vuuren, D., Vervoort, J., & Zimm, C. (2026). Solving science conundrums in the climate-nature-equity polycrisis with integrated transformative scenarios. One Earth 9 (5) e101710. 10.1016/j.oneear.2026.101710.
Abrams, J.F., Pereira, L.M., Spaiser, V., Wunderling, N., Villasante, S., Tàbara, J.D., Biggs, R., Armstrong McKay, D.I., Zimm, C. , Milkoreit, M., Constantino, S.M., Debnath, R., Dakos, V., Ritchie, P., Smith, S., Rocha, J., Kéfi, S., Buxton, J., Boulton, C., Greenlees, K., Juhola, S., Bhowmik, A., Fesenfeld, L., Clarke, J., Dyke, J., Laybourn, L., Lade, S., Marjanović-Abrams, M., Dickenson Bampton, B., & Lenton, T. (2026). Integrating tipping point concepts across diverse systems. Communications Sustainability 1 e68. 10.1038/s44458-026-00063-5.
Scheifinger, K. , Brutschin, E. , Mintz-Woo, K. , Zimm, C. , Kikstra, J. , Rogelj, J. , Żebrowski, P. , Schinko, T. , Pachauri, S. , Sovacool, B., Fritz, L., & Riahi, K. (2026). Exploring patterns of distributional justice in global climate change mitigation scenarios. npj Climate Action 5 (1) e39. 10.1038/s44168-026-00364-4.
Pachauri, S. , Brutschin, E. , Gidden, M.J. , Hasegawa, T., Hejazi, M., Jiang, K., Kikstra, J.S. , Krey, V. , Lamb, W.F., Mintz-Woo, K. , Nauels, A. , Pelz, S. , Rogelj, J. , Roy, J., Schaeffer, R., Scheifinger, K. , Sokona, Y., Tavoni, M., van Ruijven, B. , Vinca, A. , Vishwanathan, S.S., Zimm, C. , & Riahi, K. (2026). Advancing representations of equity and justice in climate mitigation futures. PLOS Climate 5 (2) e0000763. 10.1371/journal.pclm.0000763.
Loomans, N., Niamir, L. , Zimm, C. , & Alkemade, F. (2026). Quantifying the potential of energy communities in renewable electricity generation in The Netherlands. Energy Research & Social Science 131 e104523. 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104523.