Sophie Boehm is a Senior Research Associate for WRI's Climate Program, where she leads research on food and agriculture systems, as well as terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems, for Systems Change Lab. Her analysis focuses on setting targets across these systems to help limit warming to 1.5°C, halt biodiversity loss and secure a more just, equitable future for all, as well as on assessing global progress made toward these benchmarks. Sophie, for example, recently served as the lead author of the State of Climate Action 2021, the State of Climate Action 2022 and the State of Climate Action 2023. She also examines historical systems change, including the factors that can impede or enable it, and her analysis helps guide the Lab’s efforts to monitor, learn from and mobilize action to accelerate the systemwide transformations now needed to protect people and the planet.

Sophie comes to Systems Change Lab from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat, where she conducted research on adaptation and resilience, as well as supported negotiations on the Nairobi Work Programme. She also tracked negotiations on adaptation, loss and damage and climate finance for the Tongan delegation at COP24 and COP25. Previously, Sophie contributed to a range of projects at the intersection of climate change, biodiversity and sustainable development for WRI’s Equity Center, and before joining WRI, she spent four years working for civil society organizations dedicated to advancing health equity in Uganda and South Africa.

Sophie received a Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Politics from Hamilton College and a Master of Environmental Management from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, where she specialized in climate change science and policy. She is a running enthusiast, avid reader and aspiring baker.