Schellnhuber: CCS technology “should not be demonized“
09/22/2011 - The controversial issue of carbon capture and storage, CCS, is on the agenda of the German Bundesrat this week. However, the public debate about this technology is characterized by a variety of fears. It is in this context that the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, is highlighting the relevance of the sequestration of CO2 for climate change mitigation. “Scientific scenarios show that without CCS, avoiding dangerous climate change will be considerably more expensive," says Schellnhuber. “Heavy investment in other technologies to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases would then become necessary.”
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Technology funding makes climate protection cheaper
09/19/2011 - To cost-effectively protect the climate, not only an emissions trading scheme but also financial support for new technologies is needed. Economising on targeted funding, for example for renewable energies, makes climate protection more expensive – as scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) now calculated for the first time, using a complex computer simulation that spans the entire 21st century. Without funding, energy technologies with high cost reduction potentials will hardly stand a chance, since they require a significant initial investment: a case of market failure.
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Cooperation with the biggest university of the southern hemisphere
09/09/2011 - The biggest university of the southern hemisphere, the Universidade de Sao Paulo, takes part in a premiere: the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Berlin Humboldt University (HU) have founded the first ever German-Brazilian Graduate College – supported as well by the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research and its division for climate research and geoecology in Macau. “Dynamic processes in complex networks” are going to be – according to the College’s name – the object of research.
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Pioneering climate researcher: Schellnhuber receives highest-ranking awards
09/08/2011 - For his world-leading contributions to Earth system science and for the transfer of scientific insight into policy, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), will this autumn receive several awards. The Volvo Prize, considered to be the highest-ranking distinction for environmental research, will be presented to Schellnhuber in early November in Sweden. The President of Germany will bestow upon him the Federal Order of Merit, first class, in October in Berlin’s Bellevue Palace. And the renowned University of Copenhagen will honour him with an Honorary Doctorate.
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„Brown coal is not sustainable“: Researchers attend state government session
09/01/2011 - If Brandenburg wants to reach its climate targets, it cannot just carry on relying on power generation from brown coal. This, and more, has been stated by scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) this week when attending the state government session. “Such an open and intensive dialogue between science and politics is anything but a matter of course,” said Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of PIK. For the fourth time already, Brandenburg’s prime minister Matthias Platzeck invited Schellnhuber and his colleagues for a discussion on energy policy and climate change.
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Study on the Little Ice Age: Low solar activity just marginally cools the climate
09/01/2011 - The weakening sun was not the determinant factor for the Little Ice Age. Strong volcanic eruptions in particular, but also a smaller amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere were important factors during this period of cooler climate in the 16th and 17th century, a new study shows. This implies that low solar activity, which is expected by some researchers for the coming decades, cannot considerably slow down global warming caused by humankind’s greenhouse gas emissions.
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Energy from biomass pays even with forest protection in the long term
08/18/2011 - Forest protection – safeguarding woodland from being cleared and converted to fields for energy crops – reduces the global economic potential of bioenergy only in the short term. If less additional land is available for cultivation, this can be compensated by higher rates of yield-raising investments. This is shown by a new study. However, following this scenario global food production prices could rise considerably.
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Penalizing free-riders: game theory could help climate negotiators
08/29/2011 - All international efforts to reduce global greenhouse-gas emissions are hampered by "free-riding" countries. A new approach on how to deal with such countries is given by a study using economic game theory which is to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week. In the study, scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research show how - at least on paper - a greater degree of international cooperation can be achieved.
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“Both sides benefit”: Chinese-German summer school
08/29/2011 - Together with climate scientists from Beijing, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) invited participants from Germany and China to take part in a summer school. The main focus is on water management in the light of climate change – a pressing issue in many Chinese river regions. On the Chinese side, the National Climate Centre is the academic partner, being the central institution doing research in this field. More than 40 students from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing University, the University of Frankfurt, the Bundeswehr University Munich and other institutions are taking part in the ten-day event.
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"Coming out"
08/10/2011 - Scientists should do science, not appear in the public sphere – that’s a popular view. This week, philosophers and physicists, economists and ecologists discussed this issue in a workshop initiated by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance. “Science has to constantly follow the principle of truth”, says Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of PIK. “And that is exactly why it has a societal responsibility.”
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Research on algal blooms honoured
07/14/2011 - Severe algal bloom can lead to the collapse of ecosystems in lakes. How global warming might trigger this phenomenon was the subject of research by Veronika Huber of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). Her work has been honoured by the University of Potsdam through the award of the Michelson Prize – an annual award for the best PhD thesis in natural sciences. This honour is a further incentive for the successful promotion of young scientists at PIK.
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“Australia in a hot world”
07/12/2011 - Right in the middle of a heated debate in Australia about the carbon tax just announced by the government, a scientific event in Melbourne this week sheds light on the consequences of climate change for down under. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research has been invited by Australian climate scientists to give the opening lecture as well as the public keynote speech plus some concluding remarks at the conference “Four degrees or more? Australia in a hot world”.
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Indian Minister of Environment and Forests proposes science and politics to meet in Potsdam
07/04/2011 - Leading scientists and politicians from all over the world are to debate new pathways for international climate negotiations – this was suggested by the Indian Minister of Environment and Forests during a visit to the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research this Monday. In time before the next round of negotiations of the global community of states will take place in Durban, South Africa, before the end of the year, Ramesh wants stakeholders to exchange views with the sciences. The question of a fair share of rights for greenhouse gas emissions could be central. “The work of the Potsdam Institute in this field has been groundbreaking”, Ramesh said.
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Researchers refine assessment of tipping elements of the climate system
06/23/2011 - The West Antarctic ice sheet is a potential tipping element of the climate system that might have partially tipped already. According to a study now published in Climatic Change, experts can not rule out that ice masses in the Amundsen Sea sector of Antarctica have already begun to destabilize. This is one of the results of a new assessment of the current state of six potentially unstable regions in the climate system with large direct impacts on Europe. The likelihood of climatic transitions of these elements generally increases as global mean temperature increases due to greenhouse gases emitted by human activity.
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Sea levels rising at fastest rate in 2000 years
06/20/2011 - The rate of sea-level rise since the beginning of industrialization is greater than ever before in the last two thousand years. After many centuries with stable or slowly increasing sea level, around the year 1900 the data curve starts to rise steeply. This is shown by an analysis of sediments from the US Atlantic coast – it is the first continuous sea-level reconstruction covering such a long time span.
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Exit from nuclear power is affordable – but entering a new energy system is challenging
06/10/2011 - The much debated date for phasing out nuclear power in Germany has little impact on consumer prices of electricity, according to scientists. An exit before 2020, however, could push up emissions of the greenhouse gas CO2 in the short term. Yet security of supply is the crucial point. This security can only be guaranteed if both renewable energies and fossil power generation along with power grids are scaled up, shows a study which for the first time presents a comprehensive calculation of the effects. Deploying power plants fired by gas instead of coal could, at an equal price, lead to less emissions and more competition.
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Exiting from nuclear power, entering a new energy system
05/06/2011 - Exiting from nuclear power today is a consensus in Germany. It's less clear, however, how entering a new energy system should look like. What are the costs of phasing out nuclear power, depending on the timeline? Which power plant capacities have to be built using not just renewable energy sources but also additional power generation from fossil fuels? Answers to these questions will be given by a new study of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the Institute for Infrastructure and Resource Management of the Leipzig University. The results are going to be presented on friday, june 10th, in Berlin.
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Good progress on the road to 100 percent renewable electricity – despite obstacles
05/31/2011 - Progress towards achieving one hundred percent renewable electricity in Europe and North Africa by 2050 is largely good, according to a report released on may 31st in Brussels. However, in the cross-border grid development, little progress has been made on the ground. This is due to a lack of regulatory harmonization and a lack of mechanisms to deal with growing public opposition to infrastructure projects, the report shows. The report – a collaboration of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), the International Institute for Applied System Analysis (IIASA) and the advisory firm PwC – is building a bridge between science and the business and investment community to investigate the transformation of the power sector. (Joint Press Release by PIK, IIASA, PwC, SEFEP)
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Long Night of Science: thousands of visitors at Telegraphenberg
05/31/2011 – The “Smartest Night of the Year” took place for the 11th time this year and attracted a lot of visitors this weekend. Next to scientific talks and guided tours, the “little climate princess”, a play for children, found great approval.
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More storms, more floods in Germany
05/25/2011 - Weather extremes caused by climate change will significantly increase damage in Germany. For the first time, scientists now developed concrete scenarios on possible effects up to the end of this century. “Major floods will appear two or three times more often in the next decades”, says Friedrich-Wilhelm Gerstengarbe from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). Storm damages could potentially rise by more than 50 percent.
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Nobel Laureates hand over recommendations to UN High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability
05/18/2011 - The Stockholm Memorandum concludes that the planet has entered a new geological age, the Anthropocene. It recommends a suite of urgent and far-reaching actions for decision makers and societies to become active stewards of the planet for future generations. (This press release has been drafted by the Swedish organizers of the symposium - the PIK sent out it's own press release only for German language media.)
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UN High-level Panel joins Memorandum signing ceremony
05/16/2011 - President Tarja Halonen, Gro Harlem Brundtland and Kevin Rudd among members of the UN High-level Panel on Global Sustainability to participate at the presentation of the results from the Nobel Laureate Symposium on 18 May. (This press release has been drafted by the organizers in Stockholm - the PIK sent out it's own press release only for German language media.)
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PIK welcomes Mexico, Ethiopia and Norway
05/13/2011 - High-ranking international guests visited the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research this week. As different as the countries where they come from may be, they agree in their interest in the work of the institute with its transdisciplinary approach and focus on climate research that makes it one of the world´s leading institutions.
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Detlef Sprinz appointed professor at Potsdam University
05/13/2011 - Detlef Sprinz, senior scientist with the research domain “Transdisciplinary Concepts and Methods” of PIK, has been appointed to be professor at Potsdam University recently.
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Potential of renewable energy: PIK-chief economist presents IPCC-report
05/12/2011 – Close to 80 percent of the world’s energy supply could be met by renewables by 2050, if backed by public policies. The share of renewable energy in the future global energy mix differs substantially among scientific scenarios. But a comprehensive review led by Ottmar Edenhofer, co-chair of the working group on mitigation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – also being the chief economist of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research – outlines the large potential of renewable energy sources to mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases and anthropogenic climate change.
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Vatican Science Panel Calls Attention to the Threat of Glacial Melt
05/09/2011 - A panel of some of the world's leading climate and glacier scientists co-chaired by a Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher issued a report today commissioned by the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences citing the moral imperative before society to properly address climate change. (This press release has been drafted by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego - the PIK sent out it's own press release only for German language media.)
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Emissions from consumption may offset reported carbon emission reductions in industrialized countries
04/26/2011 - An increasing share of global emissions is from the production of internationally traded goods and services, according to a new study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Due to current reporting practices, this has allowed some countries to increase their carbon footprints while reporting stabilized emissions. (This press release has been drafted by the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo - the PIK sent out it's own press release only for German language media.)
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Sustainable change needs a new social contract
04/07/2011 - To achieve the transition to an “age of efficiency and renewables”, a scientific advisory council calls for nothing less but a reconstruction of civil society. This can only be achieved through a new kind of interaction between governments and citizens, with citizens being more involved in political decisions. As stated today by the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) during the presentation of its flagship report “World in Transition – A Social Contract for Sustainability”, massive investments in energy transformation, changes in consumption habits and the imposition of global fees on greenhouse gas emissions will be necessary in order to meet the challenge.
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„Pioneering contributions to the development of Earth system models“: EGU awards
04/07/2011 - For his role in helping to understand mechanisms of glacial climate change, Andrey Ganopolski of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) has been honoured by the European Geosciences Union (EGU). He was awarded the Milutin Milankovic Medal in Vienna this week “for his pioneering contributions to the development of Earth system models of intermediate complexity”, the EGU stated. These models – systems of mathematical equations representing processes in the atmosphere, oceans and other planetary compartments – show high computational efficiency. They allow scientists to perform more and longer projections, in contrast to state-of-the-art Earth system models. For the first time, Ganopolski and his collaborators made it possible to realistically simulate and explain some important aspects of transitions between glacial and interglacial periods – providing important insights which also help to assess anthropogenic global warming.
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Road traffic has more to contribute to climate protection
03/30/2011 - Cars, trucks, ships and aircraft are the main driver of global oil consumption. In the EU the transport sector is the only economic sector whose greenhouse gas emissions are constantly increasing, especially with respect to road transportation. Using a well balanced mix of instruments, though, the transport sector’s contribution to climate change could be reduced, according to economic researchers of the Technical University of Berlin (TU) and of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). They especially highlight two measures: firstly, for the admission of new cars their energy consumption instead of their CO2 emissions should be the criterion for setting efficiency standards. Secondly road traffic could be incorporated into the European emissions trading scheme. (Joint press release by TU Berlin and PIK)
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