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
Zimm, C. & Weber, N.d.A.B. (2026). Gendered Aspects of Electrification. In: Wiring the Future. Eds. Walker, T., Salas, A., Karami, M., & Sadati, A., pp. 283-312 Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. ISBN 978-3-032-14717-2 10.1007/978-3-032-14717-2.
Arnz, M., Soomauroo, Z., Fisch-Romito, V., Min, J. , Millward-Hopkins, J., Kishimoto, P. , Boza-Kiss, B. , Zimm, C. , & van Ruijven, B. (2025). Quantifying minimum mobility and transport needs: The who, the where and the why. Energy Research & Social Science 128 e104306. 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104306.
Min, J. & Zimm, C. (2025). Sufficiency. In: Vocabulary for Sustainable Consumption and Lifestyles: A Language for Our Common Future. Eds. Akenji, L., Vergragt, P., Brown, H., Smith, T., & Wallnöfer, L., London: Routledge. ISBN 9781003584056 10.4324/9781003584056.
Rockström, J., Denton, F., Norström, A.V., Abrams, J.F., Alam, L., McKay, D.I.A., Bai, X., Bala, G., Boulton, C.A., Broadgate, W., Bunn, S., Buxton, J.E., Cardenas, J., Ylla-Català, R.C., Declerck, F., Davis, N., Dennis, D., Diamond, M.L., Folke, C., Gonzales, C.K.G., Graells, G., Gupta, J., Hasan, S., Jacobson, L., Lade, S.J., Lenton, T.M., Loriani, S., Ludwig, C., Marquet, P.A., Moyo, Q.ondi, Mukherji, A., Nakicenovic, N. , Obura, D., Taikan, O., Ospina, D., Peña, M.F., Pereira, L., Riahi, K. , Rojas del Mar, M., Sarkar, A., Shalin, A., Stewart-Koster, B., Su, B., Sumaila, R., Thejna, T., van Vliet, L., van Vuuren, D., Verburg, P.H., Wang, Z., Winkelmann, R., Xiao, C., & Zimm, C. (2025). Charting a transformational course toward a safe and just future: the Earth Commission’s contribution. ESS Open Archive 10.22541/essoar.175492980.08779908/v1. (Submitted)
Pereira, L. M., Smith, S. R., Gifford, L., Newell, P., Villasante, S., Achieng, T., Castro, A., Constantino, S. M., Powell, T., Ghadiali, A., Smith, B., Vogel, C., & Zimm, C. (2025). Beyond tipping points: risks, equity, and the ethics of intervention. Earth System Dynamics 16 (4) 1267-1285. 10.5194/esd-16-1267-2025.