New building for 17 million Euro – research project included
01/13/2012 - Climate research in Potsdam gets a new house. Next to the impressing main buildings from the 19th century, a new energetically optimized building for 190 employees and a planned new high-performance computer will be built for the cost of 17 million Euro altogether. The laying of the foundation stone will take place this year. The building is also subject of a research project on energetic optimization, in cooperation with Dresden Technical University.
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“New hot paper”: International news agency
01/03/2012 - The leading international news agency Thomson Reuters ranked a study by scientists of the Potsdam Institue for Climate Impact Research as a top “New Hot Paper” this month. “The Economics of Low Stabilization: Model Comparison of Mitigation Strategies and Costs” by Ottmar Edenhofer, Brigitte Knopf and others has been identified as one of the most-cited papers published during the past two years in the field of economics and business.
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Climate scientist writes for children, and other new books
12/30/2011 – Several intriguing books have been published by scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) this year. The probably most unusual one is by Stefan Rahmstorf, co-chair of the Earth System Analysis research domain: He wrote a book on climate and weather for children. Other books cover topics ranging from extreme events to China to religion – to name just a few.
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Proposals for reducing emissions must balance with development needs
12/22/2011 – How to integrate developing countries into global CO2 reduction schemes is subject of an ongoing debate. An approach for balancing climate change mitigation and the need for development is now being presented by the North South Project of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). The study shows that emissions of societies up to now are closely linked to their human development levels under parallel consideration of the 2 degrees target. The 2 degrees guardrail by 2050 has been accepted by states around the world in order to prevent dangerous climate change.
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Excellence at PIK
12/22/2011 - The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) is one of the most important scientific institutions in this field of research worldwide; many international scientists are therefore drawn to Potsdam. A manifestation of the excellent work done at PIK is the growing number of professorships held by PIK scientists or to where they move on.
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„Providing information for transformation”
12/19/2011 – This year has been “a good year of good science,” said Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), at the conclusion of the 2011 Research Days. This annual gathering of all PIK scientists is an opportunity to discuss research results and new projects. One of the latter is a big intercomparison project of global warming impact models that will be relevant for the 2014 assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. For socioeconomic scenarios as well, an intercomparison project has been launched. Both are coordinated by PIK.
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Climate knowledge for computer game
12/19/2011 - With two digital projects, staff members from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) supported professional programmers with their expertise. For the computer game “Anno 2070”, scientists of the research project Climate Media Factory, funded by the federal government, discussed scenarios of global warming with game developers and informed them about the latest state of climate science. PIK contributed a problem statement for a programming contest as well. Both projects were about knowledge transfer.
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The dilemma of geoengineering
12/13/2011 – End-of-the-chimney fixes for anthropogenic global warming are becoming increasingly popular in public debate. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), now sheds some light on the fundamental dilemma of geoengineering in a comment published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). “This is a tale of two fairies: the rather wicked one conjures up solar radiation management, and the tolerably good one delivers CO2 removal through schemes like industrial ‘air capture,” says Schellnhuber. The latter however would generate “a multitrillion dollar bill,” he points out.
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Durban: an ambivalent outcome
12/11/2011 – The outcome of the Durban summit is ambivalent, according to leading scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), interviewed by various media. The world map of climate politics has changed, said Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of PIK. “China is not speaking for the poor countries any longer, which have joined forces with Europe instead.” The EU and Germany “had a strong showing in Durban,” adds Ottmar Edenhofer, chief economist of PIK. However, both are stressing the fact that too little has been achieved at the negotiations. The more than 190 states did not agree on a binding reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions.
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Science and Policy: Dialogue in Durban
12/06/2011 - Leading policy-makers and researchers met today in Durban to urge climate negotiators to acknowledge scientific findings and address the sustainability challenge. Amongst the participants of this dialogue were Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa and Co-Chair of the UN Secretary General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability, and the European Union’s Climate Comissioner Conny Hedegaard, as well as Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and Nicholas Stern from the London School of Economics. The event was hosted by Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, and Johan Rockström, Director of the Stockholm Environment Institute.
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Global warming “not slowing down”
12/06/2011 - A new analysis of the five leading global temperature data sets provides further evidence for climate change. Despite some differences between the measurement curves they indicate an almost identical, steady global warming trend over the past 30 years. The researchers factored out three of the main factors that account for short-term fluctuations in global temperature: el Niño, volcanic eruptions and variations in the sun’s brightness. “Differences between the five data sets reside, to a large extent, in their short-term variability,” says Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, one of the study’s authors. ”After the variability is removed, all five of them are very similar.”
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Climate dents in humankind´s family tree: new correlations discovered
12/05/2011 - Climate changes in Earth’s history have influenced the fate of modern man´s ancestors, but until now it has not been clear why some evolutionary variations developed or disappeared. Scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Potsdam University have now provided a novel view on human evolution during the past five million years. A nonlinear statistical analysis of sediments taken from the seafloor near Africa indicates that abrupt changes in climate variability could have had a significant impact on human evolution. In the first instance, the scientists have spotted three primeval tipping points.
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Stiftung Mercator and PIK initiate new institute with EUR 17m budget
11/28/2011 - Today Stiftung Mercator and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) announced the foundation of a joint institute for research and policy advice in Berlin. The Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) will address interdisciplinary research on questions of sustainable growth in a finite world. The MCC will be run by Prof. Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer, who will also remain as Deputy Director at PIK. Stiftung Mercator is providing financing of around EUR 17m over eight years. This is the largest individual funding contribution ever provided by a private foundation in the field of climate research in Germany. Up to 40 jobs will be created over the course of the coming year. The institute is likely to be located at the Euref site in Schöneberg, Berlin.
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Scheduling for Durban - and beyond
11/24/2011 – At the moment, hardly anyone expects a breakthrough of the climate summit in Durban. Even before the negotiators from around the world come together in South Africa at the end of November, some observers already turn away bored. Especially for this reason, scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) direct attention to questions that go beyond the summit with a whole series of media briefings these days. What happens if nothing happens in Durban? That is the natural scientific view on climate change. And what works if nothing works in Durban? That is the view on economy and politics. New scientific findings show ever clearer what the risks of resigning to human-made global warming could be – and what chances climate protection still offers.
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Eliminating subsidies harmful to the climate: “We have a vast number of possibilities"
11/14/2011 - With tens of billions some states subsidize fossil fuels like oil. This was dubbed “an absurdity of our economic system” by Achim Steiner, Head of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) during his Climate Lecture at Technische Universität Berlin (TUB). To stop these subsidies of more than 500 billions US$ a year could be a great chance for global climate protection; just one of many. “We have a vast number of possibilities – if we succeed to mobilize decision-makers in economy and politics,” Steiner told more than a thousand listeners. The world should listen more closely to science. It consolidates its findings more and more. Despite remaining questions and uncertainties, climate protection is simply “reasonable risk management”.
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European Parliament: towards a low carbon economy
11/11/2011 - To support its discussions about pathways towards a competitive low carbon economy, the European Parliament (EP) recently organised a workshop in Brussels. Daniel Klingenfeld from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research contributed the scientific view. Other experts were from the International Energy Agency, Business Europe, and the European Commission. The members of the EP's Committee on the Environment announced they will use the results of the workshop to propose concrete measures that the Commission should introduce within three years if the 2050 target is to be realised.
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Where does tomorrow’s energy come from? Researchers explore new pathways
11/09/2011 - In just a few weeks´ time the European Union will present its scenarios for tomorrow’s energy, the “Energy Roadmap 2050” – and already there is some excitement about the question of price increases. Behind such estimates, however, there are scientific models: computer simulations of real world processes. They are the tools to assess costs and benefits of a transformation of our energy system in line with climate change mitigation. This week, the most relevant developers of such models assembled under the umbrella of the Stanford Energy Modeling Forum (EMF), met for the first time at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). The new analyses they are preparing are about data and formula – but in the end also about euros and cents for industry and households.
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Schellnhuber receives renowned Volvo Environment Prize
11/04/2011 - The Volvo Environment Prize was awarded to the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, in Stockholm yesterday. The internationally recognized prize for “outstanding innovations or scientific discoveries” is in its 20th year and is endowed with 160.000€. Schellnhuber is the first German to receive the prize.
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Strengthening links between Indian and German researchers
10/28/2011 - Indische Wissenschaftler wollen ihre Verbindungen zum Potsdam-Institut für Klimafolgenforschung (PIK) ausbauen. Das Institut für sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Wandel in Bangalore hat Jürgen Kropp eingeladen, bei einer hochrangig besetzten Konferenz vergangene Woche die Hauptrede zu halten sowie die Eröffnung und die Schlussbemerkungen zu machen. Kropp ist Leiter des Nord-Süd-Projekts im PIK-Forschungsbereich Klimawirkung und Vulnerabilität. Unter den mehr als 200 Teilnehmern war der Premierminister und der Präsident des Bundesstaates Karnataka. Das Treffen stand unter dem Motto „Kooperation zwischen Deutschland und Indien stärken“ und wurde von der Humboldt Stiftung unterstützt.
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Thawing Tundra, endangered crops - new books by PIK-scientists
10/26/2011 - How can climate types be categorized to comprehend climate changes ore precisely? How can crops adapt to a changing climate? And where to find comprehensive analyses and questions on ecological, political and economic aspects of climate change in one volume? Several contributions to books of scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) recently published give some answers.
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Climate Change a core topic at the World Health Summit
10/26/2011 - What are the consequences of climate change for public health? The World Health Summit made this question, rather neglected in public debate, one of its core topics this week. This was a cooperation with the German Federal Foreign Office and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK): research domain leader Wolfgang Lucht was one of the two keynote speakers.
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More heat waves: increase of extremes due to climate change
10/24/2011 - The Moscow heat wave last year was, with high probability, the result of climate change – contrary to what some have assumed. With a likelihood of 80 percent, it was not natural short-term climatic variability but the long-term warming trend that caused the temperature record in the region surrounding the Russian capital in July 2010, according to scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). They developed a formula for calculating how frequently weather extremes occur in a changing climate. This week their findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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“Paying to avoid”?
10/17/2011 - A high-ranking delegation from Ecuador, led by Ivonne Baki, Head of the Yasuní Initiative Negotiating Team, visited the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) last thursday to promote the so called Yasuní Initiative. The Yasuní Ishpingo Tambococha Tiputini (ITT) Initiative introduces the idea of “paying to avoid” to preserve the Yasuní National Park in Ecuador by leaving its newly found oil reserves in the ground.
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Researchers put new spin on world´s water cycle
10/13/2011 - The final report of the Water and Global Change programme (WATCH), an extensive analysis of the world’s water resources, is made available today, significantly expanding the understanding of climate change and land use impacts on the global hydrological cycle. A total of 25 institutions from 14 European countries participated in this project, including scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).
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Climate change: A risk for plants and animals worldwide
10/07/2011 - Climate change entails a risk for ecosystems on all continents. Scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) have now identified the scale of danger for animals and plants in a worldwide analysis. For that purpose, they developed a novel measure that for the first time systematically quantifies the impacts of changes in CO2 concentration in the air as well as in temperature and rainfall on terrestrial ecosystems. Computer simulations show that global warming could lead to an expansion of the Kazakh steppe but also lets forests grow in the presently treeless tundra. If global mean temperature rises more than two to three degrees, the impacts in many regions can be drastically amplified.
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„Tireless admonisher“ receives Federal Cross of Merit
10/06/2011 - Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, founder and director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), was awarded the Order of Merit, first class, of the Federal Republic of Germany by President Christian Wulff this tuesday.
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A ‘carbonizing dragon’: China’s growing CO2 emissions due to investments in construction, not just exports
10/05/2011 - Constructing buildings, power-plants, roads is what drives the substantial increase in China’s CO2 emission growth, a new study finds. Fast growing capital investments in infrastructure projects have led to the expansion of the construction industry and its energy and CO2 intensive supply chain including steel and cement production. As a result of this transformation of China’s economy, more and more CO2 is released per unit of gross domestic product recently – a reversion of a long-term trend. Previously China’s greenhouse gas emission growth was driven by rising consumption and exports. Today this emission growth is offset by emission savings from efficiency increases. This now is thwarted by the building of infrastructure – which is even more important as it dictates tomorrow’s emissions, the international team of researchers concludes.
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Art meets science at historic ensemble
10/04/2011 - „The most beautiful science campus of the continent“ is now even prettier: the small cupola of the former photographic refractor on Telegraphenberg was inaugurated – and with it the “Artist in Residence” program, which encourages a dialogue between the sciences and arts.
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Water management: „China is open for advice”
09/26/2011 - More than 140 million people live there, and businesses are booming: water is getting scarce in the Haihe river basin in northern China. High-ranking representatives of the local Water Conservancy Commission now came to the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) to obtain reports on water management constrained by climate change. For two years, experts from the region – which encompasses the large cities Beijing and Tianjin – have been partnering with those of PIK. Modelling of sustainable use of resources, once developed for the Elbe river region in Germany, is applied to some particularly dry parts of the Haihe.
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Mapping the future: new pathways for greenhouse gas concentrations
09/26/2011 - Behind grand projections of global warming’s impacts and recommendations for mitigation, there is huge not-so-glamourous research. Four new benchmark scenarios for future climate change are being presented now, ranging from – for the first time – a low emission scenario assuming ambitious mitigation action, which would keep temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius, to a very high scenario. These so-called Representative Concentration Pathways, also for the first time, have been extended to the year 2300. This is more than just an update of the previously used scenarios.
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