Karoline Steinbacher is an associate of the Environment and Natural Resources Program; she was previously a Giorgio Ruffolo doctoral research fellow from September 2015 to August 2016 in the Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group. Karoline completed her Ph.D. in political sciences at Freie Universität Berlin in summer 2016. Her doctoral research focused on policy transfer from the German energy transition ("Energiewende") experience to Morocco, South Africa, and California.

Karoline's broader research interests include renewable energy policy, energy transition pathways in developing and industrialized countries, policy instrument selection, and co-benefits and target conflicts of sustainable energy and climate policy.