CV

Education

B.A. in Environmental Analysis and Policy, Boston University, 2007
M.S. in Socio-ecological Economics and Policy, Vienna University of Economics and Business, 2014
Ph.D in Economics, University of Graz, 2021 (expected) - Supervisor: Professor Karl Steininger

Work experience

2016 to present: Scientist
- Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change
- member of the EconClim research group
- Supervisor: Professor Karl Steininger
2008 to 2016: Research Assistant
- International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
- Risk, Policy and Vulnerability Program

Consultancies

2014: The World Bank
- Title: Strengthening the Disaster management Systems in Cambodia through Risk Assessment, Early Warning Systems and Developing Building Codes
- Organized and ran workshops on fiscal and economic disaster risks for policymakers and NGO partners in Cambodia
2011: The World Bank
- Title: Implementation of the Disaster Simulation Model (CATSIM) in Madagascar
- Assessed disaster risk in Madagascar using the Catastrophe Simulation (CATSIM) model, organized and ran workshops with policymakers

Main areas of research

Applied econometrics
Disaster risk
- Resilience and adaptive capacity
- Changing hazard, exposure and vulnerability due to climate change
Energy economics
- theoretical and empirical analysis of the potential for global trade in electricity

Publications

Making concentrated solar power competitive with coal: The costs of a European feed-in tariff

Williges, K., Lilliestam, J., and Patt, A., 2010. Making concentrated solar power competitive with coal: The costs of a European feed-in tariff. Energy Policy 28 (6) 3089-3097.

Solar power investment in North Africa: Reducing perceived risks

Komendantova, N., Patt, A., and Williges, K., 2011. Solar power investment in North Africa: Reducing perceived risks. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 15(9) pp. 4829-4835.

Costs of reducing water use of concentrating solar power to sustainable levels: Scenarios for North Africa

Damerau, K., Williges, K., and Patt, A., Gauche, P., 2011. Costs of reducing water use of concentrating solar power to sustainable levels: Scenarios for North Africa. Energy Policy 39 (7) 4391-4398.

Revisiting the “disaster and development” debate – Toward a broader understanding of macroeconomic risk and resilience

Mochizuki, J., Mechler, R., Hochrainer-Stigler, S., Keating, A., and Williges, K., 2014. Revisiting the “disaster and development” debate – Toward a broader understanding of macroeconomic risk and resilience. Climate Risk Management, 3, pp. 39-54

Managing unnatural disaster risk from climate extremes

Mechler, R., Hochrainer-Stigler, S., Aerts, J. C.J. H., Bouwer, L. M., Linnerooth-Bayer, J., Surminski, S., and Williges, K., 2014. Managing unnatural disaster risk from climate extremes. Nature Climate Change, 4(4), pp. 235-237.

Funding public adaptation to climate-related disasters. Estimates for a global fund

Hochrainer-Stigler, S., Mechler, R., Pflug, G., and Williges, K., 2014. Funding public adaptation to climate-related disasters. Estimates for a global fund. Global Environmental Change, 25(1), pp. 87-96.

Operationalizing iterative risk management under limited information: Fiscal and economic risks due to natural disasters in Cambodia

Mochizuki, J., Vitoontus, S., Wickramarachichi, B., Hochrainer-Stigler, S., Williges, K., Mechler, R., Sovann, R. 2015. Operationalizing iterative risk management under limited information: Fiscal and economic risks due to natural disasters in Cambodia. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 6(4), pp. 321-334.

Risk-sensitizing future investment needed to achieve the sustainable development goals

Hochrainer-Stigler, S., Desai, B., Williges, K., Maskrey, A., Mechler, R., and Mochizuki, J. 2017. Risk-sensitizing future investment needed to achieve the sustainable development goals. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 24, pp. 482-484. '

Towards an assessment of adaptive capacity of the European agricultural sector to droughts

Williges, K, Mechler, R., Bowyer, P., and Balkovic, J., 2017. Assessing adaptive capacity and vulnerability of the European agricultural sector to droughts under 2° C of global warming. Climate Services, 7, pp. 47-63.

The economy-wide effects of large-scale renewable electricity expansion in Europe

Bachner, G., Steininger, K.W., Williges, K., and Tuerk, A. 2019. The economy-wide effects of large-scale renewable electricity expansion in Europe: the role of integration costs. Renewable Energy, 134, pp. 1369-1380.

The practice of climate change policy evaluations in the European Union and its member states: results from a meta-analysis

Fujiwara, N., van Asselt, H., Böβner, S., Voigt, S., Spyridaki, N., Flamos, A., Alberola, E., Williges, K., Türk, A, ten Donkelaar, M. 2019. The practice of climate change policy evaluations in the European Union and its member states: results from a meta-analysis. Sustainable Earth 2 (1), pp. 1-16.

CITES and the Zoonotic Disease Content in International Wildlife Trade

Borsky, S., Hennighausen, H., Leiter, A., and Williges, K. 2020. CITES and the Zoonotic Disease Content in International Wildlife Trade. Environmental and Resource Economics 76 (4), 1001-1017.

Keith Williges

CV