Science to Paris: The Potsdam Institute at the UN climate summit COP21

12/01/2015 - Scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) actively participate in the Paris “Conference of the Parties” COP21. Director John Schellnhuber for instance will speak at a side-event of the Vatican as well as at one with the EU Research, Science and Innovation Commissioner. Ottmar Edenhofer, chief economist of PIK, talks at an event with the EU Finance Commissioner as well as meetings with representatives of the World Trade Organisation and the OECD – see below. Both Schellnhuber and Edenhofer will be present in Paris during all of the second week. Other leading scientists, including Anders Levermann, Elmar Kriegler or Ricarda Winkelmann, will also give talks and participate in side events and informal meetings.
Science to Paris: The Potsdam Institute at the UN climate summit COP21

In the run-up of the summit, PIK published a number of studies to inform decision-makers. A study on long-lasting ocean acidification even under assumed future CO2 removal is currently the cover story of Nature Climate Change, this is by Sabine Mathesius and John Schellnhuber. On the subject of national emission reduction pledges, the so-called INDCs, Malte Meinshausen as well as an international consortium with Elmar Kriegler from PIK published articles and reports. The welfare effect of CO2 taxing has been highlighted in a study by Max Franks and Ottmar Edenhofer. If no climate stabilization action would be taken and all available fossil fuels were to be burned, in the long run Antarctica could loose all its ice, yielding substantial long-term sea-level rise, a study by Ricarda Winkelmann and Anders Levermann shows.

PIK scientists also participated in a number of media briefings in the run-up to COP21, and continue to do so. PIK gives updates on this on Twitter (@PIK_Climate).

 

Nov 30 
16:00-17:40

Immeuble Jacques Chaban Delmas, 101 rue de l’Université, 75007 Paris

 

Climate Change: The Finance Sector and Pathways to 2°C

 

 

Ottmar Edenhofer

and Corinne Le Quéré (Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, Director); Irving Mintzer (Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Professor and Advisor to the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General); Kamel Ben Naceur (International Energy Agency, Director Sustainable Energy Policy and Technology)

http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/event/2242

Dec 01 
14.00-15.30

German Pavilion, Hall 2b

 

Keeping warming below 2C: Quantifying and evaluating INDCs

Malte Meinshausen and Louise Jeffery

and Joeri Rogelj IIASA; Farhana Yamin Visiting professor at University College London, teaching international environmental law and climate change policy and an Associate Fellow at Chatham House

http://www.climate-energy-college.net/seminar/keeping-warming-below-2c-quantifying-and-evaluating-indcs

 

Dec 01
14.15-15.45

Nordic Council of Minister’s Pavilion: New Nordic Climate Solutions
“Blue Zone”, Hall 2B, Room 65 
COP21, Le Bourget, Paris

View from the Poles: Climate Lessons from the Arctic and Antarctica

Ricarda Winkelmann

And Researchers from the Arctic Council and Antarctica Treaty Mechanism research bodies and Nordic polar institutes discuss recent findings of irreversible ice sheet collapse, mountain glacier loss and other climate dynamics in the Earth’s polar regions. Organized on December 1, Antarctica Day by the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative, Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (ATCM/SCAR)

Dec 01
10.30-11.00

Press Briefing on “View from Two Poles: Climate Lessons from the Arctic and Antarctica -- A Side Event in Celebration of Antarctica Day at COP-21”

Ricarda Winkelmann

International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI) and Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) . Svante Bodin (ICCI), Frank Pattyn (ULB-Belgium), Jonathan Bamber (Bristol Glaciology Centre), Julian Gutt (Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research)

http://unfccc6.meta-fusion.com/cop21/events/2015-12-01-10-30- international-cryosphere-climate-initiative- icci-and-scientific-committee-on-antarctic-research- scar-irreversible-impacts-of-climate-change-on-antarctica

 

Dec 03 
16.00-18.00

German Pavilion, Hall 2b

 

Science-based climate policy: from research to decision making, BMBF

Ottmar Edenhofer

and Dr. Karl Eugen Huthmacher (BMBF); Prof. Hans‐Otto Pörtner, Alfred Wegener Institut (AWI), Ko-Vorsitzender der Arbeitsgruppe II des Weltklimarates (IPCC); Dr. Grit Martinez, Ecologic Institute; Christoph Bals, Germanwatch

https://www.fona.de/en/20545

 

Dec 03
16.30-18.00

Room Luxembourg, EU Pavilion

 

From INDCs to 2 degrees, bridging the gaps in mitigation & implementation

Elmar Kriegler

and Alban Kitous (JRC - EU); Priyadarshi R. SHUKLA (IIM – IN); Christina HOOD (IEA); Jean-Charles HOURCADE (CIRED – FR); Jim SKEA (Imperial College – UK); Axel MICHAELOWA (Perspectives Climate Change – CH)

http://lcs-rnet.org/lcsrnet_meetings/2015/12/1642

Dec 04
13.00-13.30

Hall 04, Booth 36C

Lunchtime Poster Session at the international Cryosphere Climate Initiative Booth

Ricarda Winkelmann

Risks of Irreversible Cryosphere Climate Change at Current INDCs: 60 m. Sea-level Rise if All Fossil Fuels Burned?

Dec 04 
20.30

Grand Palais

Climate-KIC “Celebrate Climate Champions”

 

Hans Joachim Schellnhuber

and Mary Robinson, President Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice, Ingrid Reumert, Vice President for Stakeholder Communication and Sustainability, VELUX and Raphaël Schoentgen, Executive Committee Member, Manager of Research and Technology, ENGIE

http://www.climate-kic.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Invitation-final.pdf

It takes place during Innovation Night at the Grand Palais where speakers will include the Mayor of Paris – Anne Hidalgo, Honourable President François Hollande, and UN Secretary – General Ban Ki Moon

Dec 05 
09.30-12.30

l’Institut Finlandais (60 rue des Ecoles, 75006 Paris)

 

l’importance de l’Encyclique Laudato Si’ dans le

contexte des connaissances scientifiques actuelles

Hans Joachim Schellnhuber

and Pontifical Acacemy of Sciences Chancellor Sánchez Sorondo; V. Ramanathan USCSD; Margaret Archer, PASS President; Mario Molina, PAS Academician; Pierre Léna, PAS Academician

Dec 07
11.15-12.45

OECD Workspace, Blue Zone (Hall 3, Plot 7)

Effective Carbon Rates: Pricing CO2 through Taxes & Emissions Trading Systems, OECD

Ottmar Edenhofer

and Pascal Saint-Amans, Director, OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration; Helen Mountford, Director of Economics, World Resources Institute and Program Director for the New Climate Economy; Aik Hoe Lim, Director, Trade and the Environment, World Trade Organization; Kristin Skogen Lund, Director-General, Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise; Christian de Perthuis, Professor, University of Paris Dauphine

http://www.oecd.org/ctp/tax-policy/ COP21-carbon-pricing-events.pdf

 

Dec 08
13.00-13.30

Hall 04, Booth 36C

Lunchtime Poster Session at the international Cryosphere Climate Initiative Booth

Anders Levermann

East Antarctic Ice Sheets: Awakening Giants? What Happens with Continued Fossil Fuel Use?

Dec 08 
16.45-18-15

Observer Room 02

Tracking, implementing, and ramping up transformative climate action post-Paris

 

Hans Joachim Schellnhuber

and Dirk Messner (DIE and WBGU), Jennifer Morgan (WRI)

http://www.wbgu.de/presse-termine/veranstaltungen/

 

Dec 08
18.00-20.00

EU Pavilion, Hall 2b

Research and innovation: our energy for a low-carbon future

Hans Joachim Schellnhuber

and Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President for the European Energy Union; Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, European Commission; Jerzy Buzek, Member of the European Parliament,

Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE); Nicholas Stern, Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics (LSE); Peter Bakker, President of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development

http://ec.europa.eu/research/social-sciences/ index.cfm?pg=events&eventcode=DE6A6D79-0E64-7DBB-F598B984CD59350A

 

Dec 09
11.30-13.00

Observer Room 12

The IPCC at a crossroads: Enhancing the Usefulness of IPCC to the UNFCCC Process, PIK/Stanford

 

Ottmar Edenhofer

and Carlo Cararro, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei; Charles Kolstad, Stanford University; Robert Stavins, Harvard University; Hoesung Lee, Chair of the IPCC, Korea University

http://belfercenter.hks.harvard.edu/ publication/25993/harvard_project_at_cop21_in_paris.html

 

Dec 09
9.00-9.30

Press Conference Room 04

Media Briefing: Thresholds and Cosing Windows: Risks of Irreversible Cryosphere Climate Change at Current INDCs 

(Livestream at unfccc.int)

Anders Levermann
(Ice Sheets: Awakening Giants and Risks of Committed SLR at Current INDCs)

And Georg Kaser, University of Innsbruck, Susan natali, Woods Hole Research Center

                

Dec 09
11.30-13.00

Observer Room 04

 

Thresholds and Closing Windows: Risks of Irreversible Cryosphere Climate Change at Current INDCs 

 

 

Anders Levermann

and IPCC and other cryosphere scientists from Woods Hole, Max Planck, Potsdam among others; former ADP and KP co-chairs Harald Dovland and Adrian Macey, IPCC co-chair Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, AR-5 WGI Co-chair Qin Dahe

https://seors.unfccc.int/seors?session_id=COP21