Professor Katharine Rietig is Professor of Sustainability and International Politics.

Her research examines how the effectiveness of climate change governance can be improved. Her particular focus is on the role of learning, non-state actors and multilevel governance dynamics between countries and the United Nations, and how these dynamics facilitate policy change for more effective environmental governance.

She holds a British Academy/Wolfson Fellowship as Principal Investigator on ‘Climate Smart Cities: Responsible Policies for governing Artificial Intelligence in Transitions to Low Carbon Societies and is Principal Investigator a British Academy-funded project on Just Transitions in the forestry sector. Her research and impact activities have been funded by the UK Research and Innovation Council/ Economic and Social Research Council, the British Academy, the Wolfson Foundation and the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research.

She has been participating regularly as academic observer in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations since November 2009 and conducted various research projects on the UNFCCC negotiations focusing on the influence of non-national actors, negotiation strategies and the role of leadership by governments and non-national actors. She is co-founder and co-convenor of the Better Climate Governance Network.

She holds a PhD in Environmental Policy and Development as well as a MSc in Environmental Policy and Regulation from the London School of Economics and Political Science and an M.A. in Political Science, International Law and Economics from the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich.

Her work appeared in leading peer-reviewed journals including Environmental Policy and Governance, Environmental Politics, Global Governance, International Affairs, International Environmental Agreements, the Journal of European Public Policy, Policy Studies Journal, Policy and Society, Policy Sciences and Public Administration.

Her research monograph on Learning in Governance has been published in September 2021 by MIT Press.