Frank Sperling

Frank Sperling's academic and professional interests are driven by the desire to understand and help advance innovative and practical solutions for sustainable development. Prior to joining IIASA, Frank brings over 15 years of experience in mainstreaming environmental and climate risk management into development strategies and practices. He has worked for several international organizations, including the World Bank, where he focused as environmental specialist on adaptation to climate change and linkages to disaster risk reduction and sustainable land management, WWF as Senior Advisor on REDD+, and the African Development Bank, where as Chief Climate Change Specialist he led and task-managed the thematic work on green growth, focusing on concept development and operational guidance. Throughout his career he has been very interested in science policy interface and engaged in reviews on the evolving knowledge on global change, including lead and contributing author roles with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). At IIASA, Frank has engaged as Sr. Project Manager in a number of initiatives focused on the transformation of food systems. Most recently he has been the alt. lead on the IIASA-ISC Consultative Science Platform on the resilient food systems theme. Throughout his career Frank has also been a member of delegations of government, multilateral and non-governmental organizations to international environment and development policy processes, including the UNFCCC, UNCCD and the Rio+20 process.

Frank holds an MSc. in Environmental Change and Management from Oxford University and BSc. in Biological Sciences from the University of Washington, where he was awarded a Mary Gates Scholarship for his research oceanography and microbial ecology. He has also been a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University exploring various dimensions of global environmental change. While at IIASA, he is also pursuing mid-career research studies at Oxford University. He has published scientific articles, book chapters and reports on a variety of topics, including climate change impacts and adaptation, oceanography and ecology, disaster risk management, community-based climate risk management, poverty and climate change, REDD+, sustainable land management, natural capital, SDGs and the Paris Agreement, food systems. His work experience includes Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and South East Asia.
10-MAY-2021

Last update: 10 MAY 2021

Sperling, F., Havlik, P. , Denis, M., Valin, H. , Palazzo, A. , Gaupp, F., & Visconti, P. (2022). Toward resilient food systems after COVID-19. Current Research in Environmental Sustainability 4, e100110. 10.1016/j.crsust.2021.100110.

van Vuuren, D., Zimm, C. , Busch, S., Kriegler, E., Leininger, J., Messner, D., Nakicenovic, N. , Rockstrom, J., Riahi, K. , Sperling, F., Bosetti, V., Cornell, S., Gaffney, O., Lucas, P., Popp, A., Ruhe, C., von Schiller, A., Schmidt, J., & Soergel, B. (2021). Defining a Sustainable Development Target Space for 2030 and 2050. EarthArXiv (Submitted)

Srivastava, L., Gomez Echeverri, L., Schlegel, F., Denis, M., Deubelli, T. , Havlik, P. , Kaplan, D., Mechler, R. , Paulavets, K., Rovenskaya, E. , Sizov, S. , Sperling, F., Stevance, A.-S., & Zakeri, B. (2021). Transformations within reach: Pathways to a sustainable and resilient world - Synthesis Report. IIASA Report. IIASA-ISC

Sperling, F., Havlik, P. , Denis, M., Valin, H. , Palazzo, A. , Gaupp, F., & Visconti, P. (2020). Transformations within reach: Pathways to a sustainable and resilient world - Resilient Food Systems. IIASA Report. IIASA-ISC

FABLE, (2020). Pathways to Sustainable Land-Use and Food Systems. 2020 Report of the FABLE Consortium. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN)

Sperling, F., Havlik, P. , Denis, M., Gaupp, F., Palazzo, A. , Valin, H. , & Visconti, P. (2020). Report on Second Consultative Science Platform. Bouncing Forward Sustainably: Pathways to a post-COVID World. Resilient Food Systems. IIASA-ISC

Sperling, F., Havlik, P. , Denis, M., Valin, H. , Palazzo, A. , Visconti, P., & Gaupp, F. (2020). Report on First Consultative Science Platform. Bouncing Forward Sustainably: Pathways to a post-COVID World. Resilient Food Systems. IIASA-ISC

Sperling, F., Havlik, P. , Denis, M., Gaupp, F., Krisztin, T. , Palazzo, A. , Valin, H. , & Visconti, P. (2020). Bouncing Forward Sustainably: Pathways to a post-COVID World. Resilient Food Systems. IIASA-ISC

Sperling, F., Lopes, M., Malhotra, R., & Fernandes, A. (2020). Systems-based Approaches for Development Co-operation to meet Diverse Needs and Aspirations in an Interdependent World. In: Systemic Thinking for Policy Making: The Potential of Systems Analysis for Addressing Global Policy Challenges in the 21st Century. pp. 77-90 Paris, France: New Approaches to Economic Challenges, OECD Publishing. ISBN 978-92-64-49456-510.1787/879c4f7a-en.

Deppermann, A., Valin, H. , Gusti, M., Sperling, F., Batka, M. , Chang, J. , Frank, S. , Havlik, P. , Lauri, P., Leclere, D., Palazzo, A. , Thomson, M. , & Obersteiner, M. (2019). Towards sustainable food and land-use systems: Insights from integrated scenarios of the Global Biosphere Management Model (GLOBIOM). IIASA

FABLE 2019, (2019). Pathways to Sustainable Land-Use and Food Systems. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN)

Zimm, C. , Sperling, F., & Busch, S. (2018). Identifying Sustainability and Knowledge Gaps in Socio-Economic Pathways Vis-à-Vis the Sustainable Development Goals. Economies 6 (2), p. 20. 10.3390/economies6020020.