News — Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

„Two Big Bangs“: PIK Research Days

02/04/2015 - Current and future research projects have been debated at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research last week – while also looking back at outstanding events of last year. The Research Days each year are a meeting of virtually all members of the institute, two days packed with lectures and discussions. This time topics ranged from the next world climate summit in Paris at the end of this year, to advancing computer simulation models of the climate system as well as the energy sector, something to achieve until the end of this decade.

Clean technology can partially make up for weak CO2 pricing

02/02/2015 - Clean technology support can to some extent make up for weak CO2 pricing and hence help keep the two degrees target within reach, a new study shows. Even if the world climate summit in Paris later this year is successful in striking a climate deal, it might not bring about sharp greenhouse-gas cuts in the near-term. However, emission targets could be strengthened by complementary policies, such as support for renewables, a ban on new coal-fired power plants, and an initially modest global minimum price on CO2. If such a policy package – each component of which has already been enacted in some countries – were to be put into practice globally now, this could also pave the way for a clean economy with faster long-term CO2 reductions after 2030.

Schellnhuber speaks at World Economic Forum in Davos

01/23/2015 - The World Economic Forum in Davos, assembling hundreds of government and business leaders, invited the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, to speak. He joined a panel on climate risks with the Secretary-General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the President of the financial services and rating company Standard & Poor's , and the President of the Rockefeller Foundation. The audience included scientists like Naomi Oreskes of Harvard University and policy-makers such as Christiana Figueres of the UNFCCC.

World Economic Forum in Davos

National academy acatech appoints Ottmar Edenhofer

01/16/2015 - In recognition of his outstanding scientific achievements, climate economist Ottmar Edenhofer has been elected a member of the German National Academy for Science and Engineering, acatech. Edenhofer is deputy director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Director of the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), and Professor at Technische Universität Berlin. He already chairs the Energy Platform of the European Council of Academies of Applied Sciences, Technologies and Engineering (Euro-CASE), of which acatech is a part. In the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Edenhofer led the working group on mitigation which published its highly influential Fifth Assessment Report last year.

Four of nine planetary boundaries now crossed

01/16/2015 - Four of nine planetary boundaries have now been crossed as a result of human activity, says an international team of 18 researchers in the journal Science. The four are: climate change, loss of biosphere integrity, land-system change, altered biogeochemical cycles. The scientists say that two of these, climate change and biosphere integrity, are “core boundaries” – significantly altering either of these would “drive the Earth System into a new state”. The team will present their findings in seven seminars at the World Economic Forum in Davos (21-25 January).

Honours for young PIK scientists

12/31/2014 - Jonathan Donges of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research received the Wladimir Peter Köppen Prize for his achievements in modelling the climate system. The award of the Cluster of Excellence CliSAP (Integrated Climate System Analysis and Prediction) in Hamburg honours outstanding doctoral theses of young scientists under the age of thirty years. The jury described Donges dissertation, submitted to Berlin’s Humboldt University, as an innovative and outstanding contribution to current climate research.

Beyond Lima: Looking ahead to Paris 2015

12/30/2014 - With the climate conference in Lima closed again after prolonged and tough negotiations, and the year 2014 closing on course to be one of the hottest on record, scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) are looking ahead to next year’s summits on the road to COP21 in Paris. “2015 will set the stage for the living conditions of our grandchildren – and their grandchildren, too,” news agency Agence France Press, Süddeutsche Zeitung and other media quoted Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, PIK's director.

Forests around the world affected by climate change

12/19/2014 - Around the globe, forests are found to be undergoing strong changes due to human influence already today. Degradation of woods due to man-made climate change cannot be ruled out for the future, a Special Feature to be published next week in the Journal of Ecology, led by a team of scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), now shows. To understand and improve the resilience of forests, a combination of approaches from small-scale field experiments to large-scale computer simulations can help, according to the studies. Taking a risk perspective, the scientists caution that global warming puts additional pressure on some of the most valuable ecosystems on Earth.

Ice scientist appointed professor in Potsdam

12/17/2014 - At 29, Ricarda Winkelmann has already accomplished what others may only dream of: She joined a scientific expedition to Antarctica, and is now set to become a junior professor for Climate Systems Analysis at the University of Potsdam. "Ms. Winkelmann is known for her excellent research in a highly relevant field," said Robert Seckler, Vice President for Research and Junior Academics of the university. "This joint appointment with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) is s an excellent way of promoting young academics." During a ceremony, the physicist received her official appointment letter from the Science Minister of the German State of Brandenburg, Sabine Kunst, and also took her oath of service.