Completed externally funded projects
GDV I
Title: Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf die Schadenssituation in der deutschen Versicherungswirtschaft
Duration: December 2008 until April 2011
Budget: 1.120.000 € funded by Gesamtverband der Deutschen Versicherungswirtschaft e.V.
Description: The overall aim of GDV I is the estimation of likely changes to insurance loss ratios due to climate change in the relevant insurance segments subject to natural hazards. The key aspect is the modeling of variations in functional coherence of insured losses and loss return periods. Cooperation partners are Freie Universität Berlin and Universität zu Köln.
CITIES
Title: Car Industry, Road Transport and an International Emission trading Scheme – policy options
Duration: November 2009 until December 2010
Budget: total of 107.000 € (80.000 € for PIK) funded by BMW
Description: In cooperation with the TU PIK scientists investigate the potential that an upstream cap and trade mechanism for transport fuels with potentially sectoral and regional linking offers for the decarbonisation of road transport. Emphasis shall be on the potential to provide an international level playing field that is economically efficient in achieving environmental targets, while accounting for social considerations, political feasibility and robustness of the instrument(s). Specifically, a consistent regulatory or market-based approach on greenhouse gas emissions enables fair competition between technologies but also between car manufacturers currently facing varying regulations.
GDV II
Title: Anpassungs- und Vermeidungsstrategien: Eine Marktsegmentstudie für den deutschen Versicherungssektor
Duration: December 2008 until October 2010
Budget: 300.000 € funded by Gesamtverband der Deutschen Versicherungswirtschaft e.V.
Description: The GDV II study concentrates on potential implications on the development of society, economy, and politics that are due to climate change. As key results, the short and mean-term implications for insurance business segments are concluded and the possibility to adapt insurance business models is assessed. Cooperation partners are Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftforschung GmbH (ZEW) and Universität Karlsruhe (TH).
Klimawandel und weltweite Armut
Title: Klimawandel und weltweite Armut: Klimapolitik als Baustein einer gerechten Globalisierung und nachhaltigen Armutsbekämpfung
Duration: June 2007 - June 2010
Budget: 520.000 € funded by Misereor and MunichRe Foundation
Description: The main aim of the project is to study connections and interactions between the avoidance of dangerous climate change and global poverty from an interdisciplinary perspective. The basis for the study is an analysis of the consequences of climate change for developing nations, and especially for the poor both globally and in particular regions. The analysis will concentrate on certain key problem areas in which climate change and the poverty question are particularly closely interwoven: the security of food resources, energy supply and water availability.
ALICE
Title: Akteurshandeln und langfristige Investitionsentscheidungen im Klimaschutz
Duration: March 2007 - May 2010
Budget: 550.000 € (295.000 € for PIK) funded by BMBF
Description: The project aims at exploring the impact of long-term investment decisions on mitigation costs and mitigation strategies. Within this project investment decisions are analyzed at three levels. At the first level, stylized facts of investment decisions within the electricity market will be explored and validated. At a second level, an electricity market model will be designed in order to reproduce the stylized facts of the electricity market model. Based insights of behavior economics, the impact formation of long-term expectations on the choice of technologies will be assessed in this type of a partial equilibrium model. At a third level, these insights of technological choice will be incorporated in the model REMIND comprising an energy system model and a growth model. It will be used to explore the impacts of expectation formation on mitigation costs and mitigation strategies. Within stakeholder dialogues the model results will be used for checking the plausibility of the results and for further refinements.In cooperation with IIASA and the University Oldenburg.
Learning Rates
Title: Learning Rates of Low Carbon Technologies
Duration: November 2009 - March 2010
Budget: total of 90.000 € (40.000 € for PIK) funded by EU
Description: In cooperation with Ecofys PIK scientists explore how low carbon technology costs can further decrease over time and what factors contribute to this.
GTZ Post-Copenhagen
Title: Forum on Economics of Climate Change – Post-Copenhagen
Duration: December 2009 - March 2010
Budget: 10.000 € funded by the GTZ
Description: PIK scientists are supporting their Chinese partners to prepare and arrange a conference with European and Chinese scientists and politicians in March 2010 in Beijing. Subject will be the COP15 in Copenhagen and next steps for the international science community.
GTZ Synthesebericht
Title: Forum on Economics of Climate Change – Synthesebericht
Duration: November - December 2009
Budget: 30.000 € funded by the GTZ
Description: In this project, PIK researchers teamed up with researchers from the Chinese Economists 50 Forum and the Stockholm Environment Institute to explore barriers and opportunities of a low-carbon development pathway for China. The research also details on key economic instruments, policies and institutions.
CONTRACT
Title: A Global Contract on Climate Change
Duration: June 2006 until December 2009
Budget: 80.000 € funded by Ökosoziales Forum
Description: Climate change represents and unprecedented challenge to global society. In this project scientists are working out a Global Contract along the principles of environmental effectiveness, cost-efficiency, equity and justice and develope a Global Carbon Market.
SOER 2010
Title: Europäische Vulnerabilitätskartierung für den SOER 2010
Duration: July 2009 until December 2009
Budget: 39.911 € for PIK, 9.300 € for RD III; funded by Umweltbundesamt (UBA)
Description: This project is an analysis of the different concepts and ways of interpreting vulnerability, a review of the various (aggregated) vulnerability indices and methods used to develop them in recent studies, such as by PIK (regional climate vulnerability assessment for North-Rhine Westphalia), ESPON (The Spatial Effects and Management of Natural and Technological Hazards in Europe) and the European Commission (DG REGIO ‘Regions 2020’ study at NUTS2/3 level, if possible a comparison of existing national indices, and an analysis of advantages and shortcomings of developing and using aggregated indices.
ADAM
(Work package Mitigation 2 (WP M2, P3a, P3c))
Title: ADAM - Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies: Supporting European Climate Policy
Duration: March 2006 until February 2009 (3 years)
Budget: 700.000 € (for Work packages M2, P3a & P3c only) funded by EU, 6th Framework Programme
Description: ADAM is an international project with 26 partner institutes involved. It is coordinated by the Tyndall Centre in Norwich, UK, and funded under the 6th Framework Programme of the European Commission. ADAM will lead to a better understanding of the trade-offs and conflicts that exist between adaptation and mitigation policies. It will support EU policy development in the next stage of the development of the Kyoto Protocol and will support the emergence of new adaptation strategies for Europe. Work Package M2 (Mitigation at the Global Level) is one of 7 work packages within ADAM and is led by Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer. It aims at assessing the mitigation options of post-2012 EU and global climate policies. PIK publications from the ADAM project can be downloaded here.
RECIPE
Title: Report on Energy and Climate Policies in Europe
Duration: October 2007 until September 2009
Budget: total of 500.000 € funded by Allianz and WWF
Description: In this project PIK and it´s project partners CIRED and CMCC are working on a European Stern Review. RECIPE investigates the energy and climate policies necessary to reach the 2-degree-target. Policy instruments, investment options and necessary steps for the critical industries are being investigated.
China Klimapolitik
Title: China und die globale Klimapolitik: Perspektiven und Herausforderungen
Duration: February 2009 until September 2009
Budget: 17.000 Euro funded by Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ)
Decription: PIK scientists support and prepare a high rank discussion event with the topic „China und die globale Klimapolitik: Perspektiven und Herausforderungen“ in September 2009 in Beijing and provide consulting in the preparation of new GTZ activities in the area of Economics of Climate Change.
WIT
Title: What poor information can tell
Duration: Juni 2006 until Mai 2009
Budget: 210.000 €
Description: Marie-Curie Outgoing International Fellowship supporting Dr. Elmar Kriegler, Pittsburgh, USA, and PIK.
China Economics of Climate Change
Title: China Economics of Climate Change - towards a low carbon economy
Duration: October 2008 until April 2009
Budget: 100.000 € funded by Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)
Description: The research in this projects focuses on taxation instruments to reach greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions including a comparison with quantity instruments such as emission allowances, work out key design features for domestic emissions trading systems, summarize the existing experience with the European Union ETS, and outline lessons learned for the design of future trading schemes e.g. in China, and explore different options for constructing an environmental effective, economically efficient, and equitable global carbon market as part of a global deal on mitigating climate change. Research partners are SEI and Tsinghua University.
Wissenschaftleraustausch PIK-Beijing
Title: Wissenschaftleraustausch PIK-Beijing
Duration: April 2009 until September 2009
Budget: 25.000 € funded by the Mercator Foundation
Description: This project funds the exchange of scientists from PIK and Tsinghua University in Beijing. In cooperation the scientists assess how much China is being affected by global warming and climate change, what the consequences are and what can be done to encourage China to enlarge efforts in the mitigation of climate change.
Growth and Sustainability
Title: Growth and Sustainability - Towards a Global Green Recovery - recommendations for immediate G20 action
Duration: February/March 2009
Budget: 55.000 € funded by Auswärtiges Amt
Description: Prepared on behalf of the German Foreign Office as an input for the G20 London Summit 2009, this report analysed the composition of recovery programmes initiated by G20 members. It argued why more funds need to be allocated to projects which further the transition towards a low-carbon world economy and identified seven strategic areas for 'green' fiscal measures.
ECOFYS
Title: Recent scientific findings on climate change: what is new since the finalisation of the IPCC fourth assessment report
Duration: August/September 2008
Budget: total of 25.000 € (12.500 € for PIK) funded by the European Commission
Description: Researchers from PIK and Ecofys, who were involved in the 4th Assessment Report of the IPCC, agree that the extensive review process of the AR4 did not allow for recent developments in climate science to be taken into account in the AR4. The project team is providing the European Commission with assistance on an update of the scientific knowledge developed since the publication of the 4th Assessment Report.
Regionale Emissionshandelssysteme
Title: Voraussetzungen zur Verknüpfung von regionalen Emissionshandelssystemen
Duration: October 2007 until December 2007
Budget: 20.000 € funded by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany
Description: The project investigates the design aspects and institutional features that are crucial for linking the EU ETS to regional emissions trading schemes in California, Australia, New Zealand and the RGGI area. The study also carries out a comparative analysis of regional energy systems in order to gain a qualitative assessment of mitigation costs and potential benefits of linking. Finally, it defines potential duties, responsibilities, and a working programme for ICAP, the International Carbon Partnership.
Globaler CO2 Markt
Title: Wege zu einem globalen CO2 Markt (led by Ottmar Edenhofer)
Duration: December 2006 until February 2007
Budget: 20.000 € funded by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany
Description: The project investigates barriers and opportunities for establishing a global carbon market by linking future emission trading schemes to the European Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS). Applying an explorative model comprising international trade it explores the economics of linking emission trading schemes. Crucial design issues and institutional aspects of linkages are analyzed as well as the possibilities of linking the EU ETS to emerging regional emission trading schemes in the USA.
IMCP
Title: Economic and Technological Dimensions of Stabilising the Atmospheric Greenhouse Gas Concentration
Duration: August 2004 until December 2005
Budget: 50.000 € overall (30.000 € for PIK) funded by Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit (BMU)
Description: This project represented an international model comparison study. The major target was to demonstrate the impact of endogenous and induced technological change on climate change mitigation costs. Results of this project are fed into the IPCC reporting process. Moreover, a Special Issue of "The Energy Journal"was published.
OPTIKS
Title: Cost-optimised Climate Stabilisation
Duration: July 2005 until May 2007
Budget: 200.000 € funded by the Federal Environmental Agency (UBA)
Description: Based on the resolution of the EU council of Ministers to avoid a warming of the earth`s atmosphere by more than 2°C compared to the preindustrial level, it has been the mission of the research project to identify the magnitude of costs to attain such a climate protection target under different designs of the post-2012 climate policy regimes. By means of the newly developed REMIND-R model, regionally disaggregated investment and mitigation costs were specified. (pdf of the final project report)
RECCS
Title: Cost-efficient Climate Stabilisation
Duration: July 2005 until April 2007
Budget: 150.000 € funded by the Federal Environmental Agency (UBA)
Description: The project aims at a cost-effectiveness analysis of greenhouse gas emission mitigation options. As a key tool, a model of endogenous economic growth is used that represents the effects of investment decisions on technological change. The results of the analysis shall be robust under parameter uncertainty. Moreover, by semi-qualitative arguments it will be assessed whether ocean sequestration shall be part of the mitigation portfolio comprising ‘improvement of energy efficiency’, ‘renewable sources’ and ‘carbon sequestration in geological formations and – contingently – the deep ocean’.
Ocean Sequestration
Title: Ocean sequestration of CO2 and the transformation of the energy system
Duration: May 2003 until October 2006
Description: The project aims at a cost-effectiveness analysis of greenhouse gas emission mitigation options. As a key tool, a model of endogenous economic growth is used that represents the effects of investment decisions on technological change. The results of the analysis shall be robust under parameter uncertainty. Moreover, by semi-qualitative arguments it will be assessed whether ocean sequestration shall be part of the mitigation portfolio comprising ‘improvement of energy efficiency’, ‘renewable sources’ and ‘carbon sequestration in geological formations and – contingently – the deep ocean’.
EUROPA
Title: Modelling, Reflecting and Communicating Possible Futures of Europe in the Context of Global Change
Duration: October 2000 until September 2005
Budget: 1,970.046 € funded by BMBF
Description: The project aimed at answering the question of what can be learned from Europe in the context of global environmental change with respect to the micro-macro problem. In pursuing this aim, the global dynamics of energy systems, life styles, adaptation capacities as well as insurances and finance markets has been analyzed. The project qualified the long-term goal of keeping the mean global warming below 2°C and presented strategies to achieve this goal. Successful short-term and long-term strategies were identified based on innovative solutions of the micro- macro problem for systems of interdependent markets. Results of the project have been used by European and German climate politicians in order to design realistic policies of successively overcoming the climate change problem. Dr. Edenhofer was responsible for modeling mitigation strategies within this Project. He led the research group “Transformation of the Energy System” which comprised three full-time researchers.
