Richard Klein is a senior research fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute and professor of geography, climate policy and development at Linköping University. He is an expert on the science and policy of adaptation to climate change, with more than twenty-five years of experience in original research, science assessment and policy advice. In 2016, Richard received the prestigious Burtoni Award in recognition of his work on climate change adaptation.
Much of Richard’s recent work has addressed the role of adaptation in the design and implementation of a global climate policy agreement, but he also studies societal and institutional challenges to adaptation and to the provision and use of climate services. Richard founded the pioneering academic journal Climate and Development, which first appeared in 2009 and of which he was editor-in-chief for ten years. He has been involved in IPCC since 1994 (including six times as lead author), and was co-director and chief scientist of the Nordic Centre of Excellence for Strategic Adaptation Research (NORD-STAR) from 2011 to 2016. In 2018–2019, Richard was the first director of science and innovation of the Global Center on Adaptation, and served as co-director of research of the Global Commission on Adaptation. In 2018–2020, he was co-chair of the Science Committee of the World Adaptation Science Programme.
Before joining SEI in 2006, Richard spent almost eight years at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. He began his career at the Institute for Environmental Studies of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 1992.
