Ricarda Winkelmann appointed Max Planck founding director in Jena
07/07/2023 - PIK researcher Ricarda Winkelmann has been appointed founding director at the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology in Jena, dedicated to understanding the interactions between humans and the Earth system. Winkelmann will take up her full-time position there in a few months time. She will remain affiliated with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).
Read More
Six decades and more than 1600 regions worldwide: New database on economic development and climate change
07/03/2023 - A new Database Of Sub-national Economic Output (DOSE) for the first time provides sub-national economic data for six decades and more than 1600 regions worldwide matched with climate observations. Developed by experts of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) the database aims to o better understand the implications of global warming on regional economic development and the true costs of climate change.
Read More
Worse than diesel and gasoline? Bioenergy as bad as fossils if there is no pricing of CO2 emissions from land-use change
06/26/2023 - Demand for modern biofuels is expected to grow substantially in order to mitigate climate emissions. However, they are far from being a climate neutral alternative to gasoline and diesel. A new study in Nature Climate Change shows that under current land-use regulations, CO2 emission factors for biofuels might even exceed those for fossil diesel combustion due to large-scale land clearing related to growing biomass. Before bioenergy can effectively contribute to achieving carbon neutrality, international agreements need to ensure the effective protection of forests and other natural lands by introducing carbon pricing, the expert team from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) argues.
Read More
EU climate Advisory Board recommends ambitious 2040 climate target and urgent transitions
06/23/2023 - The European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC), established by the European Climate Law, recommends in a new report EU emission reductions of 90–95% by 2040, relative to 1990, grounded on a science-based assessment addressing both fairness and feasibility.
Read More
Women’s diet quality in India could be improved by forest foods
06/22/2023 - Wild foods from forests and common land play an important role in improving the quality of diets among Indian women, a new study finds. The harvest of wild, nutritious food, especially during June and July, is of vital importance to vulnerable women in India, where more than 80 percent are estimated to be micronutrient deficient and suffer from poor health.
Read More
Greentech Honorary Award for Johan Rockström
06/21/2023 - Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research PIK, has been awarded the "Special Achievement Award" by the Greentech Festival. The Earth system scientist received the honour for his commitment and leadership in his field.
Read More
Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities appoints Ottmar Edenhofer
06/19/2023 - Climate economist Ottmar Edenhofer has been appointed to the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW). The Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change was admitted to the academy during Leibniz Day 2023 in recognition of his outstanding scientific achievements.
Read More
From caves to soy schnitzel: PIK at Long Night of Science 2023
06/05/2023 - Lectures, information booths, hands-on experiments: Interested visitors can find out how stalactite caves and soy schnitzel are connected to the climate at this year's Long Night of Science on June 17, 2023 at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). Researchers at the institute will be answering questions about the energy transition and climate neutrality, climate impacts in Germany, stalactites as climate archives, and what role nutrition will play in the future, among other things. They also invite you to learn more about their research.
Read More
A just world on a safe planet: First study quantifying Earth System Boundaries
05/31/2023 - Humans are taking colossal risks with the future of civilization and everything that lives on Earth, a new study published in the journal Nature shows. Developed by an international science commission engaging more than 40 researchers from across the globe, the scientists deliver the first quantification of safe and just Earth system boundaries on a global and local level for several biophysical processes and systems that regulate the state of the Earth system. For the first time, safety and justice for humanity on Earth is assessed and quantified for the same control variables regulating life support and Earth stability. Justice, assessed based on avoiding significant harm to people across the world, leads to more stringent Earth system boundaries. This is extremely challenging, as the Earth Commission concludes that numerous of the safe boundaries are already crossed today.
Read More
PIK expertise at "Leibniz in the Bundestag"
05/26/2023 - From hydrogen to the EU climate goals, from moorland protection to the animal welfare tax: researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) were represented across all research areas with numerous topics at "Leibniz in the Bundestag". With this political format, the Leibniz Association annually offers members of the German Bundestag one-on-one discussions with scientists.
Read More
New framework from “Efficiency first” to “Decarbonization first” in European building sector needed
05/25/2023 - In addition to costly renovations, many inexpensive measures exist to facilitate the diffusion of renewables in the building sector. As of 2019, buildings were responsible for about a third of European GHG emissions. A key objective of EU energy use policies to reduce these emissions should therefore be focused on the decarbonization of buildings, beyond merely decreasing energy demand. This is stated in a new Commentary published in the journal Joule by a team of researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE).
Read More
Climate change risk to price stability: Higher average temperatures increase inflation
05/24/2023 - Increased average temperatures could drive up annual food and headline inflation by up to 1.18 percent by 2035, a new ECB working paper with PIK expertise shows. This effect persists over 12 months in rich and poor countries alike, making climate change an important economic factor for price stability.
Read More
Limiting global warming to 1.5°C would save billions of people from dangerously hot climate
05/23/2023 - If climate change continues as it has so far, more than one-fifth of the global population could be exposed to dangerously hot temperatures by the end of the century, according to a new study involving the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). According to the study, the countries of the global South in particular will be affected by hotter temperature ranges.
Read More
Effective capital markets are needed to protect the climate
05/22/2023 - A new study investigates the role of effective capital markets for climate protection and the energy transition. Banks collect savings and make them available as loans and the greater the difference between savings and loan interest rates, the more it costs to invest. This affects, for example, investments in fossil-free steel plants, power generation, or heating systems. The analysis by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) has now been published in the renowned Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (JAERE).
Read More
Large-scale nature conservation efforts alone will not preserve benefits for our societies
05/16/2023 - The enlargement of protected areas and carbon price incentives for reforestation alone will not stop biodiversity decline and the ongoing loss of critical ecosystem functions, if they are not accompanied by measures that also target managed landscapes. A new study published in Nature Communications, led by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), shows that even in scenarios with a high demand for land it is possible to maintain biodiversity-friendly landscapes, which also provide critical services such as pollination and healthy soils. The research demonstrates that land use is not a zero-sum game but that it matters where farmland is located in order to promote landscape diversity. With the right incentives, farmed landscapes could be managed in a way that enhances the numerous benefits nature offers to society and that support the biodiversity conservation targets of protected areas.
Read More
High-level Pakistani delegation visit at PIK
05/12/2023 - A high-level Pakistani delegation, along with the GIZ Pakistan, visited the PIK research department Climate Resilience, to exchange ideas and approaches related to climate impacts and adaptation in the Pakistani context.
Read More
Building back better: Resilience means more than bouncing back
05/11/2023 - Adapting to global shocks, transforming and creating new ways of functioning as a society: This is how reshaping a resilient future in the aftermath of a shock should look like, shows a new Nature Sustainability Perspective with PIK Director Johan Rockström.
Read More
PIK expertise on the Petersberg Climate Dialogue
05/04/2023 - Ministers from 40 countries met this week at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in preparation of the next UN Climate Conference COP28 in November. Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), was among the invited speakers at the meeting, which is hosted annually by the German government with the conference presidency. “The Petersberg Climate Dialogue is an important stepping stone for the upcoming COP later this year in Dubai, where the Global Stocktake will be at the heart of international climate negotiations,” explains Rockström.
Read More
Unique Institute for Sustainability: Alexander Popp is Professor at the University of Kassel
05/02/2023 - Since 1st of May 2023, Alexander Popp is Professor for Sustainable Land Use and Climate Protection at the Department of Ecological Agricultural Sciences at Kassel University. A unique scientific centre, the Institute for Sustainability, is currently being established there. It deals with the challenges of sustainable development in the sense of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.
Read More
Girls' Day at PIK: A day as a climate researcher
04/28/2023 - Exciting lectures, interactive workshops - that was the 12th edition of Girls´Day at PIK. Twenty schoolgirls aged from 12 - 16 years had the opportunity to look behind the scenes of the institute for one day.
Read More
EU border tax on CO2 offers huge opportunity to tackle climate change
04/24/2023 - A price on CO2 emissions from products entering the EU offers unprecedented opportunities in the fight against global warming. But success hinges on how low- and middle-income countries will be engaged. That is the result of a research published today in Nature Communications Earth & Environment.
Read More
Johan Rockström on TIME's 100 Most Influential People List
04/13/2023 - TIME named Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, to the 2023 TIME100, its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Read More
Greenland’s Ice Sheet might be close to first tipping point
04/05/2023 - The Greenland Ice Sheet is likely to be halfway towards a tipping point whose crossing would imply extensive further melting, a new study finds. While humanity has emitted ca. 500 gigatons of carbon so far, with about 1000 gigatons of carbon much of the massive ice sheet will melt irreversibly, a team of scientists shows.
Read More
PIK congratulates fellow Yuri Maistrenko on Humboldt Research Award
03/21/2023 - Yuri Maistrenko from the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences is a guest scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and has now been awarded the Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at a festive ceremony in Bamberg.
Read More
Water has to become a common good – two new reports show
03/22/2023 - Water overuse and a failure to recognize that countries are interdependent when it comes to the global water cycle has put the world on a path to a potential 40% freshwater supply shortfall by the end of the decade. Water therefore has to be treated as a global common good. This is stated in a report by the Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW) and also in a Nature Commentary – both led by PIK director Johan Rockström and released in the context of the UN Water Conference in New York, the first such meeting in 50 years.
Read More
E-fuels likely to remain scarce for a long time: PIK analysis paper
03/21/2023 - To advance the current debate on e-fuels, researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) have analyzed data on the global status of e-fuel projects and compiled it in an analysis paper.
Read More
PIK statement on today's IPCC synthesis report
03/20/2023 - Today, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has published its synthesis report on the Sixth Assessment Report.
Read More
Advances, Applications, Perspectives: NDA23 Conference
03/20/2023 - Around 300 scientists from various fields of complex systems science gathered for three days at the Nonlinear Data Analysis and Modeling Conference (NDA) to exchange ideas and knowledge on the latest developments and applications in complex systems science. The conference was organized on the special occasion of the 70th birthday of Jürgen Kurths, former head and currently senior advisor of the Complexity Science research department at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research PIK.
Read More
Less predictable rainfall important for Maya decline
03/17/2023 - Reduced predictability of seasonal rainfall might have played an important role in the disintegration of Classic Maya societies about 1100 years ago. That is the result of a new study of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Potsdam University. The research team studied variations in stable isotope signatures from a stalagmite that was collected in a cave near Uxbenka/Belize, an important archaeological site in the former heartland of the Maya. The carbon and oxygen isotope ratios are sensitive recorders of local and regional rainfall dynamics.
Read More
Planetary boundaries to help policy assessment in climate crisis
03/17/2023 - The concept of planetary boundaries should be included in the cost-benefit analysis of policy pathways, shows a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research PIK and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change MCC.
Read More
