Dr Patrick Schröder

Patrick Schröder is an international sustainability expert specializing in climate change, resource governance, the circular economy, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He works at the intersection of science, policy, and media to advance evidence-based policies, communicate complex sustainability issues, and promote equitable governance solutions at the multilateral level.

He is a Coordinating Lead Author for the IPCC Assessment Report 7 (WG III – Mitigation), Coordinating Lead Author for the UN Global Environment Outlook 7, and a member of the International Science Council Expert Group on Plastic Pollution. 

His academic work has been published in leading journals, including Nature Sustainability and the Journal of Industrial Ecology, and he has edited two books on the circular economy. His opinion pieces and comments appear in Foreign Policy, The Guardian, Financial Times, The Independent, Devex, The Hill, and China Daily.

At Chatham House, he focuses on resource governance in critical mineral value chains, the global challenge of plastic pollution (including the UN plastic treaty negotiation process) and China’s emerging role in environmental governance and international development. 

He leads research projects on the global transition to an inclusive circular economy, focusing on international partnerships, policy coordination, global trade, and investment strategies. From 2019–2023, he directed the Building Transformative Alliances project, funded by the MAVA Foundation, which advanced global just transition debates and strengthened international coordination on the circular economy. He also supports and works closely with UNIDO to advise governments worldwide through the EU-funded “SWITCH to Circular Value Chains” initiative.

Previously, he was a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, and spent seven years in Beijing working with Chinese environmental NGOs, the European Union, and GIZ on climate and sustainability programmes. He holds a BA in Chinese (University of Westminster), an MA in International Relations and a PhD in Environmental Studies (both from Victoria University of Wellington), and is currently pursuing a second PhD part-time on circular and regenerative design (University of the Creative Arts).