News — Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

US Government Accountability Office seeks exchange with climate scientists

02/23/2015 - The Government Accountability Office of the US Congress (GAO) considers climate change impacts such as floodings or droughts to be a financial risk. To study the German perspective on this issue, it sent a high-ranking delegation to the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) as well as to some other institutions in Europe. This will result in a report on how to improve climate services in the US.

IPCC scientist appointed professor

02/10/2015 - The head of the Technical Support Unit of the IPCC’s Working Group on climate change mitigation, hosted by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), has now been appointed as Professor for Science-Policy and Sustainable Development at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. The scientist, Jan Minx, also serves as head of the new working group “Applied Sustainability Science” at the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), and he remains a guest scientist at PIK. Both the Working Group on mitigation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and MCC are led by PIK’s chief-economist Ottmar Edenhofer.

Clean technology can partially make up for weak CO2 pricing

02/02/2015 - Clean technology support can to some extent make up for weak CO2 pricing and hence help keep the two degrees target within reach, a new study shows. Even if the world climate summit in Paris later this year is successful in striking a climate deal, it might not bring about sharp greenhouse-gas cuts in the near-term. However, emission targets could be strengthened by complementary policies, such as support for renewables, a ban on new coal-fired power plants, and an initially modest global minimum price on CO2. If such a policy package – each component of which has already been enacted in some countries – were to be put into practice globally now, this could also pave the way for a clean economy with faster long-term CO2 reductions after 2030.

Chair of the Green parliamentary group visits PIK

12/16/2014 – The chair of the Green parliamentary group in the German parliament, Anton Hofreiter, was briefed on the latest research results by leading climate scientists. During his visit at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research he discussed topics like the energy transition in Germany, the European Emissions Trading System, and carbon pricing with chief-economist Ottmar Edenhofer and with the head of the PIK research group Energy Strategies for Europe and Germany, Brigitte Knopf. Hofreiter also met with PIK director Hans Joachim Schellnhuber to talk about the scientific background of the two degrees limit for global warming, tipping elements in the climate system, and the increasing risks of unabated global warming.

UN Climate Conference COP20: The challenges of climate change and poverty

12/05/2014 - Delegates from more than 190 nations are gathering in Peru these days for the UN Climate Conference COP20. Among the conference participants are also scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, namely Chief-Economist Ottmar Edenhofer who is also a leading scientist in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Already in November, he spoke at the joint briefing by the Federal Foreign Office and the German Climate Consortium. Researchers of PIK, with their expertise in earth system changes and in solutions for the climate challenge, were frequently interviewed in the run-up to the summit.

Mitigating climate change through fighting poverty

10/29/2014 - Progress in climate change mitigation hinges on the alleviation of poverty in developing countries. To this end, the international community should pursue a policy that prioritizes the global reduction of greenhouse gases just as much as the development objectives of poorer countries. This is the result of a study conducted by a team of scientists led by experts from the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).

New numbers, new movement: from the UN Climate Summit to the Global Carbon Project

09/25/2014 - The UN climate summit this week in New York brought progress in an unexpected way. "Most of the politicians in the hall gave speeches of the same old conventional type – effusive formulation, minimalistic commitment," said Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, who himself took part in the meeting of 120 heads of state. "But it took place against a novel background, generated on the streets of New York by more than 300,000 people. If the politicians don't pull from the front, civil society will just have to push. Last week we saw how climate protection is developing into a world citizens' movement."

The Economics of Climate Change in China

The cost of delay: White House report citing PIK research

08/30/2014 - Delaying climate policy might enhance costs substantially. The US government in a major recent report makes this finding a central message, citing a number of studies led by scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). Mitigation costs increase, on average, by approximately 40 percent for each decade of delay, the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors states in the report. Inaction is likely to cause persistent economic damages, they argue – many billions of Dollars each year in the US alone.

World Bank hosts IPCC report presentation

06/12/2014 - Dealing with climate change is an exercise of risk management, two leading authors of the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports said at a major World Bank event in Washington D.C. last week. Chris Field of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University, co-chair of the IPCC working group on climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability addressed about 600 people both in the room and online, together with Ottmar Edenhofer of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, co-chair of the IPCC working group on climate change mitigation.

Emissions trading reform could result in billions of euros for European countries

05/23/2014 - With a reform of the European Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), the economically troubled countries of southern Europe could increase their revenues by several billion euros per year while also increasing their competitiveness. This was the finding of an analysis conducted by the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) headed by Ottmar Edenhofer, chief-economist of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. It was one of the issues debated at an international workshop in Berlin under the title "Closing the carbon price gap: public finance and climate policy", chaired by Edenhofer.