Reinhard Mechler
Research Group Leader and Principal Research Scholar
Systemic Risk and Resilience Research Group
Advancing Systems Analysis Program
Biography
Reinhard Mechler leads the Systemic Risk and Resilience Research Group in the IIASA Advancing Systems Analysis Program. He has over 25 years of experience analyzing and addressing socioeconomic 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.In addition to his role at IIASA, he is a visiting professor at the University of Oviedo and has been a guest professor and senior lecturer at the University of Economics and Business in Vienna, and a visiting professor at the University of Graz.
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 was 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 IPCC 5th assessment report, the report on 1.5°C global warming, and IPCC's 6th assessment report.
His areas of expertise include: socioeconomics of natural disaster risk management and climate adaptation, climate risk and resilience, disaster risk management and climate change policy, Loss and Damage, and climate finance.
Mechler holds a PhD in economics from the Technical University in Karlsruhe and a habilitation qualification from the University of Economics and Business in Vienna. He has a diploma in Economics, and bachelor equivalents in Mathematics, as well as English Literature and Linguistics from the University of Heidelberg. He also studied Economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and law at the University of Tübingen.
Last update: 14 MAY 2025
Publications
Husby, T.G., Mechler, R. , & Jongman, B. (2015). What if Dutch investors started worrying about flood risk? Implications for disaster risk reduction. Regional Environmental Change 16 (2) 565-574. 10.1007/s10113-015-0769-2.
Sendzimir, J., Slezak, G., Ouedraogo, R., Magnuszewski, P., Oueda, A., Nianogo, A., Moog, O., Pelochek, F., Salvadogo, L., Toe, P., Zerbo, H., & Mechler, R. (2015). A synthetic overview of the SUSFISH project (Sustainable Management of Water and Fish Resources in Burkina Faso): society meets ecology. Final Report. Vienne, APPEAR, 2015, 80 p.
Mechler, R. (2014). Financial preparation for natural disasters. IIASA Impact Sheet. Laxenburg: IS-02
Jongman, B., Hochrainer-Stigler, S. , Feyen, L., Aerts, J.C.J.H., Mechler, R. , Botzen, W.J.W., Bouwer, L.M., Pflug, G.C. , Rojas, R., & Ward, P.J. (2014). Reply to 'Statistics of flood risk'. Nature Climate Change 4 (10) 844-845. 10.1038/nclimate2376.
Mechler, R. , Czajkowski, J., Kunreuther, H., Michel-Kerjan, E., Botzen, W., Keating, A., McQuistan, C., Cooper, N., & O'Donnell, I. (2014). Making Communities More Flood Resilient: The Role of Cost Benefit Analysis and Other Decision-support Tools in Disaster Risk Reduction. White Paper, Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance (9 September 2014)