About

Timo is the winner of the ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize 2024, in the early career category, for the policy impacts that resulted from research and engagement with policy makers during his ESRC-funded PhD (2018-2023). Timo’s impact at the UN climate change negotiations and on national adaptation planning is summarised in this impact case  and in the video below.

Dr Timo Leiter is a global thought leader on climate change adaptation working at the intersection between research, policy and implementation. At the global level, Timo has been participating in the UN climate change negotiations since 2015. In 2022 and 2023, he co-facilitated the workshop series under the work programme on the Global Goal on Adaptation that led to the adoption of the first set of global adaptation targets at COP28 that all countries agreed to implement by 2030. Timo’s research directly underpins one of the targets, that all countries are to establish monitoring and evaluation systems for the implementation of their national adaptation plans. Currently, Timo co-leads the expert group, mandated by the Chairs of the Subsidiary Bodies of the UNFCCC, to develop indicators for the four targets related to the adaptation policy cycle.

Timo is well known for his contributions to monitoring and evaluation of adaptation to climate change (see GoogleScholar and ResearchGate for a complete list of his publications). Timo co-designed the assessment framework of UNEP’s Adaptation Gap Report which resulted in the first comprehensive global assessment of adaptation planning, finance and implementation. Since 2020, Timo has been leading its chapter on global progress on implementation with a diverse international author team. The Adaptation Gap Report is endorsed by the UN Secretary General and is regularly cited in COP decisions. Timo is also a contributing author to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, Working Group II where he authored the sections on adaptation monitoring and evaluation.

At the national level, Timo has been advising several governments on the development of useful systems to monitor the implementation of their national adaptation plans. The importance of this work is underscored by Timo’s research which found that over 60% of countries that adopted a National Adaptation Plan do not track its implementation. In the UK, Timo has been advising the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on the development of a monitoring and evaluation framework and indicators for England’s Third National Adaptation Programme.

Timo holds a PhD in climate change adaptation, environmental policy and development from LSE for which he was awarded a scholarship from the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). He graduated as best of his cohort in the degree programme in economics and business studies (Diplom-Ökonom) at the University of Oldenburg, Germany, and holds a Master’s degree with High Distinction from Bond University, Queensland, Australia. Timo is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA).

Background

Between 2011 and 2019, Timo worked at Germany’s state-owned agency for international development (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, GIZ) in several projects on adaptation and climate finance. Part of his position was to advice the climate policy units of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and of South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA). For two years he was based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where he led GIZ’s support to the Tanzanian government for the National Adaptation Plan process and was responsible for the delivery of climate adaptation, capacity building and climate finance readiness activities. As part of this support, Tanzania updated its NDC and prioritised concept notes for adaptation projects that were approved and implemented under the Adaptation Fund.

Timo authored or co-authored several practical guides and training courses, including:

Timo serves as reviewer for leading journals including Science, Nature Climate Change, Nature Communications, Climate Policy, Climate & Development, Climate Risk Management, Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Environmental Policy and Governance, Journal of Institutional Economics, Carbon & Climate Law Review; and Weather, Climate & Society.

Research interests

  • Climate change adaptation
  • Climate policy (global climate change negotiations)
  • Monitoring and evaluation
  • Global environmental governance
  • International development

Research

Research - 2023

The author of this paper outlines five aspects to guide future research on NDCs as a governance instrument including the crucial distinction between exploring potential NDC functions based on submissions during the negotiation process and examining the actual NDC functions based on the adopted Paris rulebook and empirical observations. Read more

Research - 2022

This article proposes a framework for tracking negotiation outcomes on adaptation based on the four dimensions of the Adaptation Gap Report of the United Nations Environment Programme (planning, finance, implementation, and effectiveness) and on key governance functions outlined in the climate policy literature. Read more

Research - 2021

Research - 2019

Research - 2018

Policy

Policy - 2024

Policy - 2023

Policy - 2022

Policy - 2021

This report, published by the UN Environment Programme, finds that there is an urgent need to step up climate adaptation finance. Estimated adaptation costs in developing countries are five to ten times greater than current public adaptation finance flows, and the adaptation finance gap is widening. Read more

Policy - 2020

Books

Books - 2023

Events

Events - 2023

News

News - 2024

News - 2023

News - 2022

News - 2021

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