Gerald Steindlegger

Biography

Gerald Steindlegger is a Senior Research Scholar and Senior Advisor to the IIASA Biodiversity and Natural Resources Program. He has built his career on a simple conviction: that science, policy, and business must work together if we are to meet the challenges of our changing planet. In his role at IIASA, he supports the Institute part-time in shaping exactly these kinds of strategic interfaces, helping researchers, decision-makers, and industry leaders find common ground and shared solutions.

This mission also defines his work with Integrated Sustainability Solutions (ISS), the consultancy he founded to bridge sectors and disciplines. Over the years, he has worked closely with many leading scientific organizations: IIASA, the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), the Austrian Federal Office and Research Centre for Forests (BFW), and several others, building alliances, designing processes, and nurturing the trust needed to tackle complex sustainability questions.

One of these efforts grew into the Cool Forests at Risk (IBFRA18) conference, which he co-led together with IIASA Agriculture, Forestry, and Ecosystem Services Research Group Leader, Florian Kraxner. The event brought global attention to the vital role of boreal and mountain forests — ecosystems often overlooked, yet essential for climate stability, the bioeconomy, and millions of people worldwide.

Steindlegger is equally at home in the world of business innovation. As Senior Advisor to IUFRO and MONDI, he helped create the Teaming up for Forests platform, a unique space where science, forestry, and industry collaborate on future-oriented solutions. With BFW, he co-developed a nationwide training tool that supports small forest owners across Austria in managing their forests more resiliently in the face of climate change.

Working with BOKU University, he designed an integrated forest management plan for AMAG that brings together climate adaptation, biodiversity conservation, and local recreation, demonstrating that forests can serve people, nature, and the climate at the same time.

His policy work spans the global stage as well. For the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), he authored a policy brief calling for deeper cross-sectoral collaboration in land management and developed the youth engagement strategy for the XIV World Forestry Congress, ensuring that the next generation has a strong voice in shaping the future of forests.

At the core of all these efforts lies Steindlegger’s strategic philosophy: real progress emerges when sectors open up to each other, when forestry talks to agriculture, when climate policy integrates biodiversity, and when business sees sustainability not as a cost, but as an opportunity. This belief has also guided his long-standing partnerships with the private sector, including his work with KPMG, where he moderated the high-level think tank “EU Taxonomy Regulation: How can business contribute to global sustainability challenges?”

Before shifting into advisory work, he served as CEO of WWF Austria and as Policy Director for WWF International’s Forest and Climate Change Programme. In these roles, he helped shape major global negotiations under the UNFCCC, UNCBD, and UNFF, and supported poverty reduction projects in Zambia, Lao PDR, Bhutan, Ecuador, and Peru, empowering local communities through better natural resource management.

Throughout his career, Steindlegger has contributed to the governance of the sustainability field, serving on the Steering Group of the High Conservation Value (HCV) Resource Network, the FSC Forest Carbon Working Group, the Advisory Board of the M.Sc. Programme Management of Protected Areas, and the advisory bodies of the XIII and XIV FAO World Forestry Congresses.

He holds a master’s degree in forestry from the BOKU University in Vienna and completed leadership training at IMD Business School in Lausanne.

Yet for all his international work, Steindlegger remains most grounded in the landscapes he cares about. When he is not in forests, meeting rooms, or conferences, you will likely find him in the mountains. He is a certified mountain and ski mountaineering guide with a globally recognized UIAGM licence — an expression of the same passion for nature that has guided his entire professional journey.


Last update: 01 DEC 2025