Food System Economics Commission (FSEC) regional launches in India, Brazil, and China
12/03/2024 - Following the Global Launch in Berlin in January, the Food System Economics Commission (FSEC) teamed up with various partners to launch their regional analysis in India, Brazil, and China and discuss with regional experts the hidden costs of the food systems in these countries.
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Food matters: Healthy diets increase the economic and physical feasibility of 1.5°C
03/28/2024 - A global shift to a healthier, more sustainable diet could be a huge lever to limit global warming to 1.5°C, researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) find. The resulting reduction of greenhouse gas emissions would increase the available carbon budget compatible with limiting global warming to 1.5°C, and allow to achieve the same climate outcome with less carbon dioxide removal and less stringent CO2 emissions reductions in the energy system. This would also reduce emission prices, energy prices and food expenditures.
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From knowledge to action: "10 Must Knows" as a guide to preserving biodiversity
03/25/2024 - From as yet undiscovered biodiversity to resilient forests and the impact of food consumption on nature: 64 experts have now published their knowledge and recommendations in the form of "10 Must Knows from Biodiversity Science" for 2024. The Leibniz Research Network Biodiversity's new report provides policymakers and society with concrete ways to effectively conserve and sustainably use biodiversity at the local, national, and European levels and thereby also mitigate climate change. With this publication, the researchers contribute current scientific facts to the debate on the German National Biodiversity Strategy, which is to be adopted before the next United Nations Biodiversity Conference in autumn 2024.
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'Agricultural research on climate change' - Conference with keynote speech by Professor Hermann Lotze-Campen
14/03/2024 - Under the patronage of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the conference "Agricultural Research and Climate Change" of the German Agricultural Research Alliance (DAFA) took place from 11-14 March 2024. The conference focused on the transformation of the agricultural and food sector, which is affected by climate change but also contributes to it. The potential of certain climate protection measures and how they can be realised through appropriate land management by 2030 was highlighted and discussed with more than 500 participants in Potsdam.
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Citizens' Assembly on nutrition recommends steps towards a more sustainable diet
02/21/2024 - Free lunches for children, conscious shopping made easy with a mandatory government label and a mandatory passing on of edible food by food retailers - these are three key recommendations from the German Parliament's first Citizens' Assembly "Nutrition in Transition". On 20 February 2024, the committee presented its proposals to the Bundestag. The Citizens' Assembly's Scientific Advisory Board, which includes Hermann Lotze-Campen, Head of the Department “Climate Resilience” at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research PIK, analysed the results from their perspective.
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From Planetary Boundaries to Global Commons: “PIK Research Days” with latest science update
02/15/2024 – From planetary boundaries and tipping points to global commons and the economic implications of climate change, from methods like integrated assessment modeling or machine learning to the science-policy interface: The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research gathered for its traditional in-house conference, the “PIK Research Days”. The two-day event was packed with talks, panel discussions and elevator pitches about current and planned research.
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Increasing nitrogen fertilization could pollute rivers and worsen water scarcity
02/06/2024 – In the 2050s, one-third of the world's rivers could be affected by water scarcity or be polluted by nitrogen. This is the result of a study by an international team of scientists, including researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and led by scientists of Wageningen University. They assessed the scarcity of clean water under ongoing climate change and show how water pollution from intensified agriculture and untreated sewage could limit clean water supply.
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Transforming food systems could create multi-trillion dollars of economic benefits every year
01/29/2024 - Transforming food systems around the world would lead to socio-economic benefits summing up to 5 to 10 trillion USD a year, shows a new global policy report produced by leading economists and scientists of the Food System Economics Commission (FSEC). The most ambitious and comprehensive study of food system economics so far underlines that food systems are currently destroying more value than they create and that an overhaul of food system policies is urgently needed. On the other hand, the cost of transformation would be much lower than the potential benefits, offering a better life to hundreds of millions of people.
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Fred Hattermann appointed as Honorary Professor in Eberswalde
01/09/2024 - Fred Hattermann, Working Group Leader of 'Hydroclimatic Risks' at Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, has been appointed to a Honorary Professorship of Climate Change and Hydrology by the Department of Forestry and Environment at Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development end of last year.
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RD2 Climate Resilience @ COP28
15/12/2023 - Several scientist from RD2-Climate Resilience presented their research at the COP28 in Dubai in December 2023 in a diverse range of sessions. The Working Group 'Hydroclimatic Risks' co-hosted a side event and presented several studies around Climate Change Impacts in Central Asia an the Working Group 'Adaptation in Agricultural Systems' launched three climate risk analyses for Cameroon, Uganda and Zambia.
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Insightful workshop on 'Agroforestry for nutrition and health' in Nairobi
06/12/2023 - Within the framework of the Nu-Tree project, scientists from the working group Climate Change and Health organised a workshop to discuss the potential integration of nutrition and health aspects into agroforestry projects. Key stakeholders representing different sectors - from program implementers and researchers to civil society and policymakers - and different disciplines came together in Nairobi to exchange experiences from past and ongoing agroforestry projects in sub-Saharan Africa
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Climate risk analyses launched at COP28 and SNRD Conference
05/12/2023 - The RD2 working group Adaptation in Agricultural Systems and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) launched three climate risk analyses for Cameroon, Uganda and Zambia at COP28 and at the Sector Network Rural Development (SNRD) Africa Conference.
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CO2 emissions at record high in 2023
12/05/2023 - Global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel use will amount to 36.8 billion tonnes in 2023, a record high that exceeds the 2022 level by 1.1% - the latest Global Carbon Budget report finds. This is a long way off the significant reductions that are needed to reach the Paris Agreement climate goals.
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Allianz Climate Risk Award for Rahel Laudien
01/12/2023 - Rahel Laudien, scientist and crop modeller at the 'Adaptation in Agricultural Systems' working group is one of 12 scientists receiving the 'Allianz Climate Risk Award' this year. The award honours early career scientists in the field of extreme weather events and climate change impacts for their innovative ideas towards sustainable resilience.
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Fred Hattermann appointed Honorary Professor for Climate Change and Hydrology at HNE Eberswalde
01/12/2023 - Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development has appointed Fred Hattermann, Working Group Leader of 'Hydroclimatic Risks' at PIK, to a Honorary Professorship of Climate Change and Hydrology at the Department of Forestry and Environment.
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How attribution science can quantify losses and damages
01/12/2023 – Low agricultural yields with devastating consequences can in many cases already be attributed to climate change, show PIK scientists in a contribution to the latest flagship report series “The Impact of Disasters on Agriculture and Food Security” published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The research lays out how large-ensemble climate data and impact modelling can be used together to quantify losses and damages caused by anthropogenic climate change.
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Music meets science: Hermann Lotze-Campen at "Sustainable Listening" event
01/11/2023 - The "Sustainable Listening" series at the 'Staatsoper Unter den Linden' in Berlin combines concert music and scientific impulse speeches in a walk-in climate capsule. In the fourth iteration of this innovative format, Prof. Hermann Lotze-Campen addresses the current challenges facing food systems accompanied by live music played by the 'Orchestra of Change'
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PIK hydrologist leads course on hydrological modeling of climate change impacts on water availability in Peru
23/11/2023 - RD2 scientist and hydrology researcher Carlos Fernandez Palomino moderated and led the "Hydrological Modeling and Assessment of Climate Change Impacts on Water Availability" course in Huancayo, Peru from November 15 to 17, 2023.
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Workshop on climate-friendly construction at PIK
13- 15/11/2023 - In the framework of a Connective Cities dialogue event around 40 international participants discussed for three days at PIK about “Towards a Climate Positive Built Environment Using Bio-based and Re-used Materials”. The participants from municipal government, business, and civil society gave presentations to one another and shared their expertise. They explored specific local project ideas on how to progress climate-friendly construction.
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Workshop on climate-friendly construction at PIK
13- 15/11/2023 - In the framework of a Connective Cities dialogue event around 40 international participants discussed for three days at PIK about “Towards a Climate Positive Built Environment Using Bio-based and Re-used Materials”. The participants from municipal government, business, and civil society gave presentations to one another and shared their expertise. They explored specific local project ideas on how to progress climate-friendly construction.
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Workshop on climate-friendly construction at PIK
15/11/2023 - In the framework of a Connective Cities dialogue event approximately 40 international participants met at PIK for three days in a workshop entitled “Towards a Climate Positive Built Environment Using Bio-based and Re-used Materials”. Participants from municipal government, business, and civil society including Mayor of Potsdam Mike Schubert, gave presentations, shared their expertise and explored local project ideas on how to progress climate-friendly construction.
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Congratulations Dr. Mogge and Dr. Röckert!
17/11/2023 - On October 16, Lukas Mogge and Julian Röckert successfully defended their PhD theses at Ruhr University Bochum.
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Highly Cited: PIK scientists among top 1% of the world's most cited researchers
11/15/2023 – For the sixth year in a row, numerous researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) are among the top 1 percent of the renowned “Highly Cited Researchers” worldwide. The influential ranking, published by Clarivate Analytics' science platform Web of Science, is based on the number of times scientists' papers are cited by other researchers – a very important indicator of scientific relevance. The 2023 edition includes eight PIK researchers from different research departments, also PIK Director Johan Rockström.
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Novel perspectives on cross-border cascading climate change impacts and systemic risks
10/27/2023 – Transitioning towards climate-adaptive and resilient societies – that was the overarching aim of the conference “Cross-border climate change impacts and systemic risks in Europe and beyond” at Potsdam-Institute of Climate Impact Research (PIK). For three days in mid-October, 150 scientists from all over the world came together across disciplines to better understand and respond to the emerging topic of cross-border climate impacts and risks.
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Four large-scale household data collections implemented to support research on climate change adaptation in agricultural systems
25/10/2023 - Over the past year, the working group 'Adaptation in Agricultural Systems' (AAS) started implementing four large-scale household data collections. These data collections will support the overall aim of better integrating empirical- and model-based research on climate change adaptation in the agricultural sector within the AAS group.
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Diabetes, dementia, depression: Adapting fuel taxes could benefit people’s health
10/13/2023 - The health benefits from walking and cycling are so significant that they should be included in fuel tax design, shows of a new study published in the journal Economica. Optimal fuel tax rates would increase by 44% in the US and by 38% in the UK if the costs for the health system that arise from too little exercise were taken into account. The revenue could be used for low-carbon transport or to compensate affected households to build support for sustainable transport.
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Meat taxes can be designed to avoid overburdening low-income households
04/10/2023 - As low-income households spend a much larger share of their earnings on food, consumption taxes on meat tend to hit them harder. New research, published in Nature Food, indicates how meat tax design and redistribution of tax revenues can ease such adverse distributional impacts.
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Urban Transformations team receive Outstanding Article Award of Sustainability Science Journal
02/10/2023 - The paper "A systems model of SDG target influence on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" co-authored by RD2 scientists Anne Warchold, Prajal Pradhan and Jürgen Kropp, received the Outstanding Article Award conducted by the Sustainability Science Journal for papers published in 2022.
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On the DWD's Summer Report 2023: In the midst of climate change
08/30/2023 - The German Weather Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst, DWD) has presented its 2023 summer report. PIK researcher Fred Hattermann comments: "This year's precipitation cannot compensate for the precipitation deficit that has accumulated over the past years."
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From Australia back to Germany: PIK Alumna Katharina Waha appointed professor at University Augsburg
01/08/2023 - After 8 years abroad, in which she continued to work together with the 'Landuse and Resilience' Working Group at PIK as a guest researcher, Katharina Waha has accepted an appointment as 'Professor for Climate Resilience and Human-Made Ecosystems' at the newly created 'Centre for Climate Resilience' in Augsburg.
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