Our Common Future Under Climate Change

07/10/2015 - This week, thousands of climate and social scientists as well as policy experts have met for the “Our Common Future under Climate Change” conference at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, among them a large number of experts from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). It has been the biggest gathering of high-ranking scientists paving the way for COP21 in December, laying out the state of science for fact-based decision-making.
Our Common Future Under Climate Change

Ottmar Edenhofer, chief economist at PIK, gave a keynote on “A Map of the Solutions Space: Mitigation” in which he outlined the relation of climate policy and poverty reduction and explained recent carbon intensity growth driven by cheap and increasingly available coal. He was sided by Fatih Birol, chief economist of the International Energy Agency, and other outstanding experts. Edenhofer also appeared in a number of sessions where he discussed carbon taxes and the 2° guardrail.

Among the many other PIK scientists participating with posters and sessions – like Stefan Rahmstorf on the slowdown in Atlantic ocean overturning circulation or Christoph Müller on impacts of global and regional climate change for agriculture  to name just a few – Ricarda Winkelmann was one of the first to take the large stage to discuss future impacts of climate change and tipping point Antarctica.

Today, PIK director John Schellnhuber participates in a plenary session with economist and Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, the World Bank´s Rachel Kyte and others. Opening the last day of the conference, the panel will reflect on collective action and transforming solutions.

Weblink to Our Common Future Under Climate Change