Edenhofer to advise „Energiewende Research Forum”
05/06/2013 - Science is an important partner in implementing the German energy transition. Ottmar Edenhofer, chief economist and research domain co-chair of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and director of the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), has been asked to join the working group on economics of the “Energiewende Research Forum”, whose job is to provide scientific advice for political measures to realize the energy transition. The interdisciplinary initiative was sparked by the National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech), the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and the Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities.
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Research on Antarctica awarded with prize for upcoming scientists
05/03/2013 - For her research on climate change and the Antarctic ice shield, Ricarda Winkelmann was awarded with a young scientists prize. The Natural Sciences Department at the University of Potsdam presents this prize for outstanding publications. Winkelmann, aged 27, leads the group on projections of Antarctica´s contribution to future global sea level rise at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. The jury highlighted her "most impressive contribution to our understanding of the physics of Antarctica's ice shield dynamics."
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Climate-KIC: Strategy retreat and green garage
04/25/2013 – More than 60 representatives of science and industry meet at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) this week for a two-day strategy meeting of Climate-KIC. The European network of Climate Knowledge and Innovation Communities brings together research, businesses and technology to kick off innovation in climate mitigation and adaptation with creative partnerships. Partners of Climate-KIC in addition to PIK are for instance the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zurich, the Imperial College in London and companies like Bayer Technology Services or Electricité de France.
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Schellnhuber briefs stakeholder conference on the 2015 agreement on climate policy
04/17/2013 - The preparations for the next climate agreement that is supposed to be reached in 2015 are already taking shape – and civil society is being asked to accompany and support the EU´s development/decision process. On invitation by Connie Hedegaard, the EU´s Commissioner for Climate Action, a number of experts and decision makers meet at a stakeholder´s conference in Brussels today. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, has been asked to hold a keynote on the state of play in climate science.
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The renowned Lewis Fry Richardson Medal is awarded to Jürgen Kurths
04/09/2013 - Jürgen Kurths is awarded the Lewis Fry Richardson Medal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) that honours outstanding achievements in nonlinear geosciences. The renowned prize will be given to him this week at the EGU General Assembly in Vienna that brings together more than 10.000 scientists from all disciplines from earth to space sciences. Kurths is head of the research domain "Transdisciplinary Concepts and Methods" at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, and Professor at Humboldt University of Berlin.
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Risk management in climate impact research
04/04/2013 - Even the best research cannot predict the future. To respond to the challenges of climate mitigation and adaptation, decisions have to be made based on uncertainties – for example when a new embankment is to be built that is supposed to withstand even a strong storm surge. Systematic strategies of risk management could enhance such decision processes and play an important part in the development of robust policy options, a team of international scientists, among them Ottmar Edenhofer from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), writes in Nature Climate Change. Their study “Risk Management and Climate Change” analyses the use of appropriate instruments for the assessment of potential climate impacts.
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Researchers support Berlin on its way to climate neutrality
04/02/2013 - Berlin aims to be climate neutral in the year 2050 – how this goal can be reached is to be shown by a team of experts from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), on behalf of the Berlin Senate. “Europe and the whole world is monitoring the Berlin metropolis,” PIK director Hans Joachim Schellnhuber says. "If the German capital is pioneering in climate protection, this is a contribution to maintain the two-degrees-limit in regard to global warming – to achieve this, states have to act as well as bold local authorities." The Berlin Senator for Urban Development and the Environment, Michael Müller, highlights the significance of this feasibility study: "Berlin has to be a highly energy-efficient and modern city and make use of its opportunities for innovation and investments! This is not only to contribute to the energy transition in Germany. We want to live up to our responsibility for the future and lead by example."
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A cold March despite of climate change
03/28/2013 - March 2013 in Europe has been somewhat cold. How this might be linked to global warming was shown by a study by PIK scientist Vladimir Petoukhov in 2010 already. The shrinking of sea-ice in the eastern Arctic causes some regional heating of the lower levels of air – which may lead to strong anomalies in atmospheric airstreams, triggering an overall cooling of the northern continents. These anomalies could increase the probability of cold winter extremes in Europe and northern Asia, the analysis showed.
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Hans Joachim Schellnhuber awarded Wilhelm-Foerster-Prize 2013
03/28/2013 - For his „important contribution to research on the global impact of civilization on the climate, and fostering awareness for these findings in society and politics”, the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, was awarded the Wilhelm-Foerster-Prize 2013 of Urania Potsdam last night. Among the many felicitators were the Brandenburg Minister of Science, Research and Culture, Sabine Kunst, and Potsdam´s mayor Jann Jakobs.
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From climate to medicine: complex systems science shows broad range of applications
2013/03/21 – Researchers from various fields of complex systems science, and from various countries, are gathering this week in Potsdam. They tackle issues from astrophysics to climate research, fromj neuroscience to physiology – thereby illustrating the strong interdisciplinary character as well as the broad range of applications for the mathematical methodologies of nonlinear data analysis. The meeting marks the occasion of the 60th birthday of Jürgen Kurths, co-chair of the department 'Transdisciplinary Concepts and Methods' at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). An internationally recognized complex systems scientist, during his career he has explored issues of virtually all the fields that now being discussed at the conference.
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Permafrost soil thawing accelerates climate change despite more abundant vegetation
2013/03/13 - Global warming affects permafrost soils, for instance in Siberia, in two opposing ways. Their thawing accelerates decomposition processes in the soil, leading to higher CO2 emissions. On the other hand, enhanced vegetation growth due to higher temperatures leads to carbon intake by the plants, and consequently storage in the soil. However, the – often neglected – second effect in the long run cannot counter the first one, reveals a study now published by scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
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Naturkundemuseum and PIK link history and future
03/08/2013 - Naturkundemuseum Berlin, Germany´s leading natural history museum, and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research have agreed to work closer together at a meeting in early March. When a delegation from the museum, led by its Director-General Prof. Dr. Johannes Vogel, visited PIK, a number of ideas for a closer cooperation were identified.
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Call for Applications: Global Sustainability Summer School 2013
03/07/2013 - "Complex(c)ity – urbanization and energy transitions in a changing climate": this is the title of the 2013 Global Sustainability Summer School. The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) now call for applications. The intense two-week programme explores global sustainability issues from a complex systems’ perspective with particular focus on urbanization, energy transition and climate change.
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From the Amazon rainforest to human body cells: quantifying stability
01/07/2013 - The Amazon rainforest, energy grids, and cells in the human body share a troublesome property: they possess multiple stable states. When the world’s largest tropical forest suddenly starts retreating in a warming climate, energy supply blacks out, or cells turn carcinogenic, complex-systems science understands this as a transition between two such states. These transitions are obviously unwanted. As they typically result from severe external perturbations, it is of vital interest how stable the most desirable state is. Surprisingly, this basic question has so far received little attention. Now scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), in a paper published in Nature Physics, propose a new concept for quantifying stability.
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IPCC calls for expert reviewers
03/04/2013 - In the run-up to the publication of its fifth assessment report which will present the state of climate science next year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) calls for expert reviewers to provide comments on the second order draft of the working group III contribution, which covers the mitigation of climate change. The scientists who are organizing this process ask for voluntary contributions from experts across all sectors, from scholars to business people or NGO representatives.
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Schellnhuber to advise EU Commission’s President in new capacity
02/28/2013 - The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, yesterday in Brussels met the newly appointed members of his Science and Technology Advisory Council (PSTAC). Physicist Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, will be part of this independent group of eminent experts. The Council is charged to provide foresight and recommendations that could be used to explore opportunities and make informed judgements based on the evidence and advice provided.
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Weather extremes provoked by trapping of giant waves in the atmosphere
02/25/2013 - The world has suffered from severe regional weather extremes in recent years, such as the heat wave in the United States in 2011 or the one in Russia 2010 coinciding with the unprecedented Pakistan flood. Behind these devastating individual events there is a common physical cause, propose scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). The study will be published this week in the US Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and suggests that man-made climate change repeatedly disturbs the patterns of atmospheric flow around the globe's Northern hemisphere through a subtle resonance mechanism.
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Climate scientist Schellnhuber to brief UN Security Council
02/15/2013 - As climate change starts being recognized as a security issue on the highest international levels, Pakistan and the United Kingdom have asked Hans Joachim Schellnhuber of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) to speak at an in-depth discussion event for the UN Security Council members. The meeting aims at addressing “potential threats posed by possible adverse effects of climate change to the maintenance of international peace and security”. It will take place on February 15th at the UN headquarters in New York City. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon plans to attend.
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Earth League: International network established by leading research institutes
02/14/13 - Leading research institutes from more than 10 nations joined forces last week in London and launched the “Earth League”. As a global alliance of eminent scientific representatives from climate research, environmental sciences and economics, this distinguished network focuses on planetary processes and sustainability issues. The Earth League will meet once a year to provide robust background information for decision makers on the most urging challenges for the future.
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Scenario 2040 for Germany: How climate change alters our daily life
02/08/2013 -
“Two degrees Celsius more in Germany” – scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and sociologists analyzed what this might mean in detail. A book with the same title was just released by Fischer publishing house, addressing a broad public. Hot summers with average temperatures of more than 35 degrees Celsius are only one example of many potential impacts of climate change in Germany: “People in the cities will be affected as well as agriculture and forestry,” says PIK scientist and co-editor Friedrich-Wilhelm Gerstengarbe. The “Scenario 2040” outlines these impacts and illustrates how climate change alters our everyday life.
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New faces in Board of Trustees and Scientific Advisory Board
01/29/2013 - The two supervisory bodies of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research both show a new line-up in 2013. The head of the executive board of the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW), Hildegard Müller, is now a member of the board of trustees. “Climate research provides central insights for sustainable climate protection,” Müller says. “PIK has delivered important scientific contributions for years. The German Energy and Water Industries are committed to climate protection. They are holding to the goal they already adopted in 2009, to ensure a CO2 neutral energy supply by 2050, and hence to unite sustainable climate protection with affordable energy supply. They support the goals of the German energy system transformation.”
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Early emissions peak more relevant than emissions reduction rate: study
01/14/2012 - Avoiding negative impacts of global warming depends more on starting early to let greenhouse-gas emissions decline than on the rate of reductions after the peak. This is one key outcome of the first global-scale assessment of climate change impacts across sectors, from coastal flooding to crop failure, now published in Nature Climate Change. The analysis suggests that a policy of remaining below a 2 degrees Celsius temperature rise target could reduce impacts by 20 to 65 percent relative to a business-as-usual scenario.
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Global warming has increased monthly heat records by a factor of five
01/14/2013 - Monthly temperature extremes have become much more frequent, as measurements from around the world indicate. On average, there are now five times as many record-breaking hot months worldwide than could be expected without long-term global warming, shows a study now published in Climatic Change. In parts of Europe, Africa and southern Asia the number of monthly records has increased even by a factor of ten. 80 percent of observed monthly records would not have occurred without human influence on climate, concludes the authors-team of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Complutense University of Madrid.
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Shareholder liability: key to energy systems transformation
01/08/2013 – Assigning full liability for environmental impacts to the shareholders of corporations would reduce the rigidity of the fossil-nuclear energy economy and help establish an alternative energy system, a new study shows. Without such changes of regulation, a dynamic lock-in pattern of the energy economy dominates: Capital flows to the established corporations and technologies instead of flowing to nascent alternative and more sustainable ones, this pattern is known as the ‘success to the successful mode’. The paper by Jérôme Dangerman of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, will be published this week in the US Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
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Advancing computer simulations of climate change mitigation costs: EU project hosted by PIK scientists
12/28/2012 - Computer simulations of energy systems, the economy and land use are key for assessing the impacts of climate mitigation strategies. Policy-makers therefore rely on these assessments to decide between different options on the basis of robust information. The ADVANCE project – the acronym stands for Advanced Model Development and Validation for the Improved Analysis of Costs and Impacts of Mitigation Policies – sets out to achieve a substantially better understanding and representation of some rather complex phenomena in the interaction between climate policy and the economy. It is coordinated by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and funded with 6 million Euro by the European Commission.
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"The best way to predict the future is to shape it": Schellnhuber at the World Climate Summit COP 18
The opening film of the COP 18 world climate summit in Doha, Qatar, featured many things, but just one scientific institution - the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Here's the part featuring our institute, including an interview with PIK's director Hans Joachim (John) Schellnhuber, on climate science and climate policy. "The best way to predict the future," he says, "is to shape it."
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Why early Earth was no snowball: Illuminating the ”faint young Sun paradox”
12/17/2012 - In the early history of planet Earth, the Sun was up to 25 per cent less luminous than today. Yet there is strong evidence that the Earth’s oceanic surface was not completely frozen. High concentrations of warming greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) seem to be the most obvious solution to this famous “faint young Sun paradox”. A team of scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) analyzed in computer simulations how much CO2 in the atmosphere was necessary to prevent the early Earth from falling into a “snowball state”. They found the critical amount to be significantly higher than previously assumed, according to their study now published in Geophysical Research Letters. This sheds light on the environment on early Earth during a time when life first appeared on our planet.
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MCC opening: „A new kind of dialogue at the science-policy interface“
11/16/2012 - The newly founded Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) gets operational. With already 13 scientists up and working, and 17 more to be employed within the next months, plus support staff, MCC aims at becoming a new factor in the sustainability science scene. "This institute is venturing to provide scientific assessments that actually help policy-makers in taking knowledge-based decision in the field of climate and economics - and we will do so by trying to establish some new kind of dialogue at the science-policy interface," director Ottmar Edenhofer said in front of 200 guests from science, politics, and business, at the opening event last week. Global commons might well become “the decisive scarcity of the 21st century,” guest speaker Robert Stavins of Harvard University pointed out.
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