“We must, at least so far, admit failure”: PIK Directors Rockström and Edenhofer on ten years Paris Agreement
12.12.2025 – Today marks the tenth anniversary of the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to keep global heating well below 2°C and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. Here are the comments from the Scientific Directors of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact (PIK).
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Ottmar Edenhofer reappointed to the EU Climate Advisory Board
05.12.2025 – The European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change, established under the European Climate Law, will continue to be supported in its second term (2026-2030) by Ottmar Edenhofer. The Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) has now been appointed by the Management Board of the European Environment Agency in Copenhagen for another four-year term on the Advisory Board, beginning on 24 March 2026.
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PIK assessment on COP30 closing
22.11.2025 - In the past two weeks, around 50,000 people from around the world took part in the UN climate summit COP30 in Belém, Brazil. Key topics included the 1.5°C global warming limit, the implementation of national climate plans (NDCs), better protection of rainforests, climate finance and improved collaboration on climate adaptation. Here is what Johan Rockström and Ottmar Edenhofer, the Scientific Directors of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), have to say about the outcome of the conference.
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COP30: New avenues for cooperation on climate finance
12.11.2025 - Even though governments are increasingly prioritising national interests in their economic and financial policies, these very priorities can still offer ways to achieve greater cooperation in tackling global warming. This is the central message of a joint discussion paper presented today at the COP30 climate conference by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the research team at KfW, one of the world’s leading promotional banks. The paper highlights the growing need for investment in fossil-free technologies and outlines incentive mechanisms for new international cooperation.
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The road (back) to Paris: Science-based pathways to return below 1.5°C
12.11.2025 - The world is likely to exceed 1.5°C of global warming within the next decade, yet science shows that returning below this threshold by the end of the century remains physically possible. In a new science-based statement, researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) assess where global climate action stands and outline science-based pathways to return global warming to safe limits.
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In Brussels, PIK explains social flanking of the new emissions trading system
24.09.2025 – How can we socially cushion the higher fuel and heating costs expected to emerge with the second EU emissions trading system, starting in 2027? This was the topic of an event held today by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in collaboration with Catholic welfare organisation Caritas, and the climate and social policy spokespersons for the EPP Christian Democrat group in the European Parliament, Peter Liese and Dennis Radtke. PIK Director Ottmar Edenhofer presented the idea of climate money for buildings, developed by researchers at the institute.
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International cooperation on fossil fuel levies could raise billions for climate finance
30.07.2025 - In the wake of newly agreed climate finance targets in Baku at COP29, climate economists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) have analysed the effects of cooperative levies between smaller groups of countries on fossil fuels. They find such levies could raise USD 66 billion per year for financing emission reductions in developing countries. Further initiatives such as pricing emissions from international aviation and maritime shipping could increase participation by countries and raise contributions to USD 200 billion per year.
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Ban fossil fuel heating systems? A way out of the war of beliefs
26.05.2025 – In several industrialised countries, governments are backing away from controversial building energy legislation that sought to ban oil and gas heating and replace them with fossil-free systems. An article co-authored by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Nature Climate Change now offers guidance on achieving the switch to climate-friendly technology without political uproar. Based on recent economic findings, the article provides criteria and a political roadmap for moderate, targeted regulation to complement the gradual increase in carbon pricing.
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“Support for the EU Green Deal”: PIK statement on the coalition agreement in Germany
09.04.2025 – The CDU/CSU and SPD, which together received a majority in the German Bundestag elections at the end of February, today agreed on a draft coalition agreement for the upcoming legislative period. Ottmar Edenhofer, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), comments on the agreement’s climate policy orientation.
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Three high-level political delegations hosted at PIK
27/03/2025 - At the end of March, PIK Director Ottmar Edenhofer welcomed distinguished guests from Chile, Japan and Baden-Württemberg to the institute. Discussions centred on the latest research findings and pathways to climate neutrality, as well as strategies for addressing climate scepticism. The talks also covered the potential for international collaboration.
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Edenhofer and Rockström outline pathway to more global climate finance in Nature
13.03.2025 – In their own interest, “coalitions of the willing” of industrialised countries should now step up climate finance for developing countries. The aim: to make their climate commitments, which must be updated in 2025 according to the Paris Agreement, as ambitious as possible. Proven CO₂ reductions in the Global South should be rewarded with massive public grants – which would be highly profitable for donor countries due to avoided climate damage. This is the message of an article published today in the top journal Nature, co-authored by Ottmar Edenhofer and Johan Rockström, scientific directors of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).
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PIK Research Days 2025: Interdisciplinary climate research under one roof
13.03.2025 - From the stability of the Atlantic overturning circulation and new findings on climate solutions to the social dynamics of populism and climate policy - the PIK Research Days 2025 on March 11 and 12 offered a comprehensive insight into the latest research findings of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). In addition to intensive discussions and interdisciplinary knowledge exchange, the focus was also on diversity, freedom and inclusion: values that characterize PIK's scientific approach.
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EU climate Advisory Board outlines recommendations to scale up carbon removals
21.02.2025 – The European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC) has today published a report on scaling up carbon dioxide removals. The report outlines key actions for the EU to accelerate the deployment of carbon dioxide removals, emphasising their potential to drive innovation, restore ecosystems and create economic opportunities, while ensuring environmental and social safeguards.
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"Serious concerns about the future of international climate cooperation": PIK statement on Trump inauguration
20.01.2025 - Today, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States. Statement by Ottmar Edenhofer and Johan Rockström, Directors of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, regarding Donald Trump's inauguration.
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The time has come: PIK’s strategic expansion will take place at the turn of the year
09.12.2024 – Bundling climate expertise from the natural sciences to policy advice: at the beginning of 2025, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) will implement its long-planned strategic expansion through additional institutional funding. As announced in October 2023, the Berlin-based climate research institute MCC (Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change) will be integrated into PIK. In addition, expertise in previously under-researched and future-oriented topics will be specifically strengthened. The Joint Science Conference of the German federal and state governments has now formally approved the necessary increase in long-term basic state funding.
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COP29: PIK and KfW launch financing concept for carbon removals at world climate summit
11.11.2024 - Since the reduction of CO₂ emissions is too slow to limit global heating to 1.5°C, a great deal of CO2 must be removed from the atmosphere. Depending on the scenario, this will cost up to 2 percent of annual global economic output in 2050. This effort is economically imperative because the climate damage per tonne of CO₂ is many times higher. However, this would overburden state budgets, so a financial architecture is needed to mobilise private capital. The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and KfW, one of the world’s leading promotional banks, are now making a joint proposal at the World Climate Summit.
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PIK expertise at COP29 in Azerbaijan
11.11.2024 - The 29th UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) takes place from 11 to 22 November 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The conference brings together delegates from nearly 200 countries, including leading scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), to discuss the latest scientific findings and policy measures to mitigate the climate crisis.
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Ottmar Edenhofer reappointed to the Science Platform Climate Protection
05.11.2024 - Ottmar Edenhofer, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), has been reappointed to the Science Platform Climate Protection (WPKS). The policy advisory board supports the German government with scientific expertise and is starting its second working period this year. The most pressing tasks are the further development of the Climate Action Programme up to 2030 and the German long-term strategy for climate mitigation as well as the Climate Action Plan 2050.
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How a carbon central bank can turn Europe into a CO₂ “eater”
17.09.2024 - The EU has decided to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. From then on, for every tonne of CO₂ still emitted, one tonne would have to be taken out of the atmosphere. A European Carbon Central Bank could play a key role on the way there - and use market-based incentives to set the course for a net-negative emissions balance in the second half of the century, turning Europe into a CO₂ “eater”, so to speak. Ottmar Edenhofer, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), explained how this could work economically in the renowned “Thünen Lecture”.
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New Brandenburg Climate Council chaired by Hermann Lotze-Campen
15.07.2024 - Hermann Lotze-Campen from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) has been appointed chair of the new Brandenburg Scientific Climate Advisory Board. The 12-member committee will advise and support the state government in achieving its climate protection goals. The establishment of the Climate Advisory Board is part of the climate plan adopted by the state government in March 2024.
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Digital ministers visit PIK
18.04.2024 - The digital ministers of the German federal states visited the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the other research institutes on the Telegrafenberg in the course of their constituent meeting. PIK Director Ottmar Edenhofer presented the work of PIK and provided insights into important research projects.
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EU climate policy: How the EU could regulate carbon removal
28.03.2024 - For the EU to effectively remove large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere in the future, it is not only important to develop the technical capabilities but also to have a proper regulatory structure in place. In a new study, a research team led Ottmar Edenhofer, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), presents an economically sound concept for this. A European carbon central bank that is to be established plays a key role in the concept.
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Edenhofer on the presentation of the German government's Carbon Management Strategy
26.02.2024 - Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Robert Habeck, recently presented key points for a Carbon Management Strategy and a draft law based on it to amend the Carbon Dioxide Storage Act as well as the key points for a Long-term Strategy for Negative Emissions to deal with unavoidable remaining emissions. Ottmar Edenhofer, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), was invited to the launch of the concepts and analysed them from a scientific point of view.
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From Planetary Boundaries to Global Commons: “PIK Research Days” with latest science update
15.02.2024 – From planetary boundaries and tipping points to global commons and the economic implications of climate change, from methods like integrated assessment modeling or machine learning to the science-policy interface: The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research gathered for its traditional in-house conference, the “PIK Research Days”. The two-day event was packed with talks, panel discussions and elevator pitches about current and planned research.
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Transforming food systems could create multi-trillion dollars of economic benefits every year
29.01.2024 - Transforming food systems around the world would lead to socio-economic benefits summing up to 5 to 10 trillion USD a year, shows a new global policy report produced by leading economists and scientists of the Food System Economics Commission (FSEC). The most ambitious and comprehensive study of food system economics so far underlines that food systems are currently destroying more value than they create and that an overhaul of food system policies is urgently needed. On the other hand, the cost of transformation would be much lower than the potential benefits, offering a better life to hundreds of millions of people.
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EU climate Advisory Board: EU needs to significantly accelerate its emission reductions
18.01.2024 - More efforts are needed across all sectors to achieve the EU climate objectives from 2030 to 2050, states a new report by the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC). Specifically, the report “Towards EU climate neutrality: progress, policy gaps and opportunities” identifies main gaps in the EU’s post-2030 climate policy, with providing a stable investment outlook for renewables and the revision of the EU energy taxation as pressing issues.
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Real progress, yet transition away from fossil fuels too vague: PIK Assessment on COP28 closing
13.12.2023 - After two weeks of negotiations, the UN climate summit COP28 in Dubai closed. More than 70.000 people from all over the world took part in the conference focused on the first Global Stocktake of climate plans and further steps for international climate action from 30 November to 13 December. Among them were PIK Directors Ottmar Edenhofer and Johan Rockström.
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More new fossil gas heating systems, only tentative progress: energy transition update
11/22/2023 - Reduced fossil fuel consumption due to the energy crisis, tentative positive signs in the expansion of renewable energy capacities, electric cars and heat pumps – but all this is not happening fast enough, according to new figures from the Ariadne Transformation Tracker. Moreover, the German energy transition is not yet on track when it comes to phasing out fossil fuels in the heating and transport sectors. Instead of the necessary decline, there has been a clear increase in the sale of new cars with combustion engines and new gas heating systems compared to the previous year.
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Land taxation can reduce wealth inequality
11/14/2023 - Taxing land instead of capital could reduce the widening gap between rich and poor in societies, finds a new study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). A team of scientists shows that, in a world of rising inequality, shifting the tax burden away from capital to land taxation could restore balance and promote economic growth. Especially people with little or no wealth could benefit from land taxes, for example in the form of less rapidly rising housing costs. The few municipalities, that have implemented land rent taxation so far, have used it to finance public transport, among other infrastructure investments.
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More interdisciplinary science: Green light for additional institutional funding of PIK
10/19/2023 - From interdisciplinary basic research to scientific policy advice: the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) has received the green light from the committee of the Joint Science Conference (Gemeinsame Wissenschaftskonferenz, GWK) of the German federal and state governments for its plans to expand the institute. The additional institutional funding will strengthen its expertise topics by securing investment for three cutting edge and so far little-researched topics. At the same time, the integration of the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) will establish a policy research hub at the interface between research and policy from 2025 onward.
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