Photo of Björn-Ola Linnér

Björn-Ola Linnér

Professor

Societal Transformationscoping with climate and environmental changes and human development

To spur societal transformations worldwide that are able to cope environmental changes while advancing global development, we need to understand the interactions between climate action and sustainable development objectives, such as energy and food security.

Professor Linnér analyses how the political processes and actors affect conditions for social changes towards sustainable development in different parts of the world. An important part of his research is to develop new methods and platforms for analysis, such as Norrköping decision arena, climate visualization and surveys of international negotiations. Linnér has long experience in research dialogues with various societal actors, such as the climate convention’s secretariat, governments, businesses and environmental organizations.

He is a member of the Research council of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and its scientific council for ecosystem services and biological diversity. He is fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry and Associate Senior Fellow at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

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CV

Supervision

Organisation

Research

Profile area - Societal Transformations

Societal Transformations meet the challenges facing society where a comprehensive approach is required that takes into account several dimensions. Together we can meet the challenges and contribute to developing new innovative solutions.

Norrköping Decision Arena.

Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research, CSPR

CSPR is a platform for knowledge production to trigger and promote societal changes towards safe and just climate futures for all. Our goal is to create knowledge and methodological approaches that can support and advance climate actions.

Flooding.

AI4ClimateAdaptation

AI4ClimateAdaptation explores the capacity of AI-based image processing and text mining to contribute to evaluating the accuracy of the national system for impact-based weather warnings and to contribute to the development of the system.

Watch the Mistra Geopolitics film “Navigating towards a secure and sustainable future”

Publications

2025

Björn-Ola Linnér, Juliana Porsani, Bwalya Chibwe, Alva Linnér, Carlo Navarra, Maria Jernnäs, Marie Francisco, Tina Schmid Neset, Alexandre Antonelli, Victoria Wibeck (2025) Digitalising biodiversity: Exploring perceptions on risks and opportunities Plants, People, Planet (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Priyatma Singh, Björn-Ola Linnér, Ashneel Ajay Singh (2025) Marine spatial planning and ocean governance in Small Island Developing States Regional Environmental Change, Vol. 25, Article 91 (Article, review/survey) Continue to DOI
Sara Gottenhuber, Henrik Carlsen, Björn-Ola Linnér, Nina Weitz (2025) Operationalizing Indivisibility-Synergies and Trade‐Offs in Six Swedish Municipalities' Work With the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Naghmeh Nasiritousi, Alexandra Buylova, Björn-Ola Linnér (2025) Matching supply and demand? Exploring UNFCCC reform options Earth System Governance, Vol. 23, Article 100241 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2024

E Bennett, O Biggs, R Calderón Contreras, R Golden Kroner, A Vianna Mansur, S Woroniecki, S Acar, Z Aksoy, F Alpizar, D Lam, A-I Horcea-Milcu, Björn-Ola Linnér, L Mehta, C Campos, M Nishi, N Rahiri, M Richardson, C Sabinot, C Simão Seixas, H Stokland, Patricia Balvanera, Kai Chan, C Guibal, L Garibaldi (2024) Chapter 3: How transformative change occurs Thematic Assessment Report on the Underlying Causes of Biodiversity Loss and the Determinants of Transformative Change and Options for Achieving the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, p. 1-81 (Chapter in book) Continue to DOI