Eberhard Faust received a PhD in the humanities from Heidelberg University, after which he studied geoecology and environmental sciences, specializing in meteorology and hydrology. He joined Munich Re in 1997 as an expert on windstorm modeling and climate risks. Following a stint at Deutsche Rück in Düsseldorf, where he designed and programmed a winter storm risk model, he returned to Munich Re in 2004 as head of Climate Risks Research. He is the co-author of numerous risk-related studies on climate variability, climate change, and natural hazards. For the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, published in April 2014, he worked as one of the lead authors on the impacts of climate change, adaptation, and vulnerability.