Reinhard Mechler
Research Group Leader and Senior Research Scholar
Systemic Risk and Resilience Research Group
Advancing Systems Analysis Program
Biography
Reinhard Mechler has over 20 years of experience analyzing and addressing socio-economic aspects of disaster and climate change risks. His interest is to provide evidence-based advice to a wide range of public and private sector decision-makers to improve decisions and build resilience against salient risks. Currently, he is the leader of the Systemic Risk and Resilience (SYRR) Research Group in the IIASA Advancing Systems Analysis (ASA) Program. He has also been a visiting professor at the University of Graz and is a senior lecturer at the University for Economics and Business in Vienna.Dr. Mechler has led and contributed to many international research and consultancy projects and is currently leading research for the Flood Resilience Alliance, which brings together researchers, international NGOs, and the private sector to build disaster and climate resilience across the globe. He acted as a lead author on the IPCC's special report on managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation (SREX), the 5th assessment report and the report on 1.5°C global warming, and is currently a lead author on the IPCC's 6th assessment report.
Areas of Expertise: Socio-Economics of natural disaster risk management and climate adaptation, climate risk and resilience, disaster risk management and climate change policy, loss and damage, climate finance.
Last update: 24 MAR 2021
Publications
Paszkowski, A., Laurien, F. , Mechler, R. , & Hall, J. (2024). Quantifying community resilience to riverine hazards in Bangladesh. Global Environmental Change 84 e102778. 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102778.
Yokomatsu, M., Zhu, Q., Hochrainer-Stigler, S., & Mechler, Reinhard (2023). Developing a model of disaster policies and the sovereign debt sustainability. In: The 13th International Conference of the International Society for the Integrated Disaster Risk Management, 28-30 September 2023, Roorkee, India.
Hagen, I., Allen, S., S.Bahinipati, C., Frey, H., Huggel, C., Karabaczek, V., Kienberger, S., Mechler, R. , Menk, L., & Schinko, T. (2023). A reality check for the applicability of comprehensive climate risk assessment and management: Experiences from Peru, India and Austria. Climate Risk Management 41 e100534. 10.1016/j.crm.2023.100534.
van den Hurk, B., Baldissera Pacchetti, M., Ciullo, A., Coulter, L., Dessai, S., Ercin, E., Goulart, H., Hamed, R., Hochrainer-Stigler, S., Koks, E., Kubiczek, P., Levermann, A., Mechler, R. , van Meersbergen, M., Mester, B., Middelanis, R., Minderhoud, K., Mysiak, J., Nirandjan, S., Otto, C., Sayers, P., Sillman, J., Schewe, J., Shepherd, T.G., Stuparu, D., vogt, T., & Witpas, K. (2023). Climate Impact Storylines for Assessing Socio-Economic Responses to Remote Events. Climate Risk Management 40 e100500. 10.1016/j.crm.2023.100500.
Mechler, R. , McQuistan, C., & Rosen Jacobson, B. (2023). Falling through the gaps: how global failures to address the climate crisis are leading to increased losses and damages. Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance