Fossil fuels threaten health and life: Experts call for massive acceleration of the energy transition
11/03/2022 - The consequences of climate change are one of the greatest health risks of our time. This was stated by the Federal Minister of Health and the President of the German Medical Association together with PIK Director Johan Rockström and the organisation German Climate Change and Health Alliance (KLUG), that had invited to the Federal Press Conference. Together they advocate accelerating the energy transition in Germany and minimising greenhouse gas emissions. The background to this is a recently published report by the leading medical journal The Lancet, which highlights dependence on fossil fuels as a threat to health and life. The experts highlighted the fundamental importance of the report for Germany and what has to follow from it politically and in the German healthcare sector.
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Register now for first Leibniz Network Integrated Earth System Research Conference
10/15/2022 - The first 'Integrated Earth System Research' Conference 2022, organized by the Leibniz Research Network carrying that same name, will take place in Potsdam on November 8th and 9th. Registration will close on 28 October. The meeting is dedicated to scientific advances towards a coherent understanding of the increasing human impacts on the Earth system, their societal consequences, and respective governance challenges. It brings together researchers from the natural, engineering, social sciences and the humanities for targeted dialogue and to intensify research collaboration.
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Nature key for climate-safe future: New Exponential Roadmap Initiative for Natural Climate Solutions
09/19/2022 - The land sector, including agriculture, forestry, & natural land protection & restoration, must reach net zero annual emissions by 2030. This is the result of a new report by Conservation International, in partnership with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, the WWF, and the Exponential Roadmap Initiative. The report pinpoints actions needed to turn the land sector from a greenhouse gas source today into a carbon sink by 2050 and lays out a new benchmark: the “Carbon Law for Nature".
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Risk of passing multiple climate tipping points escalates above 1.5°C global warming
09/09/2022 - Multiple climate tipping points could be triggered if global temperature rises beyond 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, according to a major new analysis published in the journal Science. Even at current levels of global heating the world is already at risk of passing five dangerous climate tipping points, and risks increase with each tenth of a degree of further warming. An international research team synthesised evidence for tipping points, their temperature thresholds, timescales, and impacts from a comprehensive review of over 200 papers published since 2008, when climate tipping points were first rigorously defined.
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Considering catastrophe: high-impact, low-probability climate scenarios "dangerously underexplored"
08/02/22 - Researchers call for a new "Climate Endgame" agenda and say far too little work has gone into understanding the mechanisms by which rising temperatures might pose a "catastrophic" risk to society and humanity: For instance if temperature rises are worse than many predict or cause cascades of events we have yet to consider, or indeed both. The world needs to start preparing for the possibility of a "climate endgame", the authors argue in a perspective piece in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences PNAS. Assessing catastrophic risks is necessary in order to have a better chance of preventing them.
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"For a secure climate future": High-ranking guests at 30 years celebration of Potsdam Institute
06/30/2022 - High-ranking guests attended the 30th anniversary celebration of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) - from federal and Brandenburg politicians to a Nobel laureate. The institute, founded in 1992 and now employing a good 400 people, is needed more today than ever before in the worsening climate crisis, speeches said. The PIK Board of Directors thanked politicians as well as the scientists and all employees of PIK for their part in the success story.
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EAT Lancet 2.0 launched
06/03/22 - EAT, the science-based non-profit dedicated to transforming the global food system, in collaboration with its partners the Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC), the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Harvard University and OneCGIAR, has kicked-off of the second EAT-Lancet Commission (EAT-Lancet 2.0) on healthy diets from sustainable food systems.
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Experts’ statement calls to acknowledge links between climate change and conflict
04/27/2022 – Relevant leaders in the fields of climate science, peacebuilding and security, amongst them PIK Directors Johan Rockström and Ottmar Edenhofer, have endorsed a joint statement calling for the links between climate change and conflict to inform a broad spectrum of policymaking and programming.
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Planetary boundaries update: freshwater boundary exceeds safe limits
04/26/2022 - A reassessment of the planetary boundary for freshwater indicates that it has now been transgressed, according to an international team of researchers led by the Stockholm Resilience Centre and including the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. This conclusion is due to the inclusion of “green water” – the water available to plants – into the boundary assessment for the first time.
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"The benefits of climate protection clearly exceed its costs": breaking IPCC WG3 AR6 report
04/04/2022 - Today, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group 3 published its 6th Assessment Report on climate mitigation.
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Potsdam and Exeter agree 'tipping points' partnership
03/03/2022 - The University of Exeter and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) have signed an agreement to jointly investigate climate change tipping points.
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New IPCC report on climate impacts
02/28/2022 - Today, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group 2 published its 6th Assessment Report highlighting climate change impacts. The working group consisted of 270 scientists from across the globe who scanned more than 34,000 pages of scientific literature on the current state of science on what the warming climate means for our life on Earth. They’ve agreed on a more than 3,000 pages report synthesising those insights, and on a 36 pages Summary for Policy Makers (SPM). Several PIK scientists were involved, such as Katja Frieler, co-chair of Tranformation Pathways research at the Potsdam Institute. She was a lead author of the report's chapter on observed cross-sectoral impacts and also contributed to the Summary for Policy Makers.
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Rockström on Climate Risk and Conflict at Munich Security Conference
02/21/2022 - Human-made climate change has arrived at centre-stage in the security community. As the 2022 Munich Security Report shows, attendants at this year's Munich Security Conference perceived climate change as a real security threat. Against this and the backdrop of rising tensions between Ukraine and Russia, Johan Rockström had been invited to Munich to address the global security experts, including heads of states and high-ranking military officials, to share science’s latest assessment of climate risks and security, and to sketch a way forward.
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Kick-off: Global Commission on Science Missions for Sustainability with Johan Rockström
12/14/2021 - A newly formed Global Commission is to lead the ambitious plan to implement Science Missions for Sustainability: Political leaders, scientists - among them PIK Director Johan Rockström - and influential personalities have issued an emergency warning on sustainability inaction. By establishing a Global Commission, they aim to mobilize a global fund for Sustainability Science Missions.
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New study: World map of the most important protected areas to avert a climate catastrophe
11/18/2021 - New research out today from Conservation International maps the places on Earth that humanity must protect to avoid a climate catastrophe. These ecosystems contain what researchers call “irrecoverable carbon,” dense stores of carbon that, if released due to human activity, could not be recovered in time for the world to prevent the most dangerous impacts of climate change.
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10 New Insights in Climate Science 2021
11/04/2021 - As compounding impacts from our worsening climate crisis become more visible around the globe, leading researchers at COP26 highlight urgent and interconnected risks and solutions. The 10 New Insights in Climate Science series is a horizon scan of the most pressing research findings and emerging scientific insights to help inform immediate and equitable transformations across sectors to preserve a safe and habitable planet.
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COP26: PIK experts in Glasgow
11/03/2021 - Several experts from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research will be on site at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, to contribute their scientific expertise. We collected some highlight events with PIK researchers organizing or participating.
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PIK Statement on Nobel Prize for climate researcher Hasselmann
10/05/2021 - Today, German climate researcher Klaus Hasselmann was one of three scientists to be awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Physics.
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Think summer is hot now? Here’s how hot it would be without nature.
09/16/2021 - Without the Earth’s biosphere, global average temperature today would have already surpassed the critical 1.5º C threshold, a benchmark signifying that the planet’s warming is moving into the zone of dangerous climate change. This is the result of a new opinion paper, co-authored by Johan Rockström, PIK Director and chief scientist at Conservation International.
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73% of people believe Earth approaching tipping points, according to new survey
08/17/2021 - A survey, carried out in G20 countries by IPSOS Mori and the Global Commons Alliance, highlights a set of new and extremely detailed research on public attitudes towards tipping points, planetary stewardship and necessary economic and societal transformations. The survey clearly shows people are willing to do more to become better “planetary stewards” and protect and regenerate the global commons.
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Estonian government delegation visits PIK
08 /16/2021 – A high-level government delegation from Estonia has visited the Potsdam Institute for an in-depth discussion about climate policy issues. Welcomed by the directors Ottmar Edenhofer and Johan Rockström, the guests from the Baltic Republic gained insight in the most recent findings of climate science and discussed its implications namely with regard to the Green Deal proposed by the European Commission. The visit illustrates the importance Estonia, a coastal state and one of 27 members of the European Union, concedes to the topic.
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Science podcast launched: "Sustain Ability. The Potsdam Dialogues"
05/18/2021 - Science for your ears: The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) has launched its very own podcast. The dialogue series ‘Sustain Ability. The Potsdam Dialogues - Science for a Safe Tomorrow’ brings together leading thinkers and doers to discuss how to stabilize our climate and advance the transition to sustainability. The first episode features EU Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans and PIK Director Johan Rockström.
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Few realistic scenarios left to limit global warming to 1.5°C
05/14/2021 - Of the over 400 climate scenarios assessed in the 1.5°C report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), only around 50 scenarios avoid significantly overshooting 1.5°C. Of those only around 20 make realistic assumptions on mitigation options, for instance the rate and scale of carbon removal from the atmosphere or extent of tree planting, a new study shows. All 20 scenarios need to pull at least one mitigation lever at "challenging" rather than "reasonable" levels, according to the analysis. Hence the world faces a high degree of risk of overstepping the 1.5°C limit. The realistic window for meeting the 1.5°C target is very rapidly closing.
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Biden's Climate Summit: leaders and journalists seek out PIK's expertise
04/24/2021 - In the past week, at the invitation of US-President Joe Biden, heads of states from 40 countries as well as scientists and civil society actors came together at the virtual Leaders Summit on Climate. In the run-up and the aftermath of the historic event, in which many states, including the US, announced new ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets, countless media outlets sought out PIK's scientific expertise. In various interviews with German newspapers and TV stations, PIK director Ottmar Edenhofer put the intended goal as well as the results of the event into perspective, while PIK director Johan Rockström made an appearance at the Leaders Summit, when a new Netflix documentary detailing his scientific journey was previewed.
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Netflix film “Breaking boundaries” with PIK Director Johan Rockström and David Attenborough: preview at Biden climate summit
04/23/2021 – A preview of the feature documentary “Breaking boundaries: The science of our planet” that follows the scientific journey of PIK Director Johan Rockström was presented exclusively yesterday to World Leaders at President Biden’s virtual climate summit. It will be officially launching this summer.
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Less than one week to go: Nobel Prize Summit “Our Planet, Our Future” with Al Gore and the Dalai Lama
04/20/2021 - On the heels of President Biden’s Leaders Summit on Climate, the first Nobel Prize Summit “Our Planet, Our Future”, taking place April 26-28, will bring together Nobel Prize laureates and other esteemed leaders like Al Gore, Ursula von der Leyen, the Dalai Lama and many more to explore actions that can be achieved this decade to put the world on a path to a more sustainable, more prosperous future for all.
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State of the planet: This decade must bend the curves on emissions and biodiversity loss
03/22/2021 - Humanity is now the dominant force of change on our Earth – and human actions are threatening the resilience and stability of Earth’s biosphere, the wafer-thin veil around Earth where life thrives. This has profound implications for the development of civilizations, says an international group of researchers in a report published for the first Nobel Prize Summit, a digital gathering to be held in April to discuss the state of the planet in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Nobel Prize Summit ‘Our Planet, Our Future’: Registration Now Open
03/17/2021 - From Al Gore and Xiye Bastida to the Dalai Lama and Jennifer Doudna – these and many more renowned leaders will take part in the first Nobel Prize Summit, “Our Planet, Our Future”. The Summit will bring together Nobel Prize laureates and other committed minds in the sciences, policy, business, the youth movement, and the arts to explore actions that can be achieved this decade to put the world on a path to a more sustainable, more prosperous future for all. Registration is now open for the April 26-28 virtual summit, which is free and open to the public.
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Top 10 insights in climate science in 2020
01/27/2021 - Ten of the most important insights within the field of climate science 2020 have been presented today by UNFCCC's Secretary General Patricia Espinosa and an international team of scientists including Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Together, FutureEarth, Earth League and World Climate Research Programme compiled the "must-knows" list based on an ever-growing body of evidence, with annual installments since 2017. 57 scientists from 21 countries synthesized the latest sustainability research for the international science-policy community.
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New hope for the climate: Edenhofer & Rockström on Biden US Presidency
01/26/2021 - The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) puts hope in the start of Joe Biden's presidency after climate topics have been rather neglected for the last four years of from US side. PIK Director Ottmar Edenhofer explores the concept of carbon pricing as a possible tool for the new US administration and Johan Rockström, Director of PIK along with Ottmar Edenhofer, signed a global ambition letter together with known CEO'S - from Amazon to Ford Motor Company - and world climate leaders, calling on US President Joe Biden to be the climate leader that science demands.
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