World climate summit COP27: Potsdam researchers highlight need for action

"If the political leaders mean what they say they must act in a new way", PIK Director Johan Rockström told the New York Times, referring to the heads of states and governments speaking at COP27. "I've heard all the right words in those speeches, based on state of the art science. This is good, but not good enough. To live up to their words, policy makers must immediately cut fossil fuel use within their own countries. And they must come to green deals between states, including fair financial transfers and clear greenhouse gas reduction rules."

With the new head of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Simon Stiell at his side, Rockström presented the "10 New Insights in Climate Science", a community effort led by Future Earth and the Earth League. He also participated in one of in total just two science events in the German Pavilion, co-organized by PIK and the Working group 2 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and facilitated by DLR-PT , on food security.

Financing carbon neutrality for developing and developed countries, with a focus on carbon pricing, is the topic of the PIK UNFCCC side event co-organized with the European University Institute and featuring speakers from the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission, and others. In addition to side events, Rockström did a large number of bilaterals with high-ranking representatives from policy and business.

"What governments so far put on the table is insufficient": Edenhofer

Ottmar Edenhofer, PIK director and climate economist, features in a large number of media interviews on how COP27 can or cannot advance climate policy. “What governments put on the table so far is insufficient”, he said in one of Germany’s major TV news shows, heute journal. “And what governments put on the table, they do not implement.” While clearly stating climate risks, he highlighted pathways to climate solutions.

Further PIK researchers attending COP27 include agro-economists Claudia Hunecke and Christoph Gornott who are involved in activities for instance with GIZ, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, which is governed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation. On the communications front, researchers like Stefan Rahmstorf, Anders Levermann and Christoph Bertram contributed to media articles and broadcasts.