Dr Leonie Wenz

Working Group Leader, Deputy Head of Research Department
Wenz

Department

Complexity Science

Working Group

Data-based analysis of climate decisions

Contact

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
T +49 (0)331 288 2568
leonie.wenz[at]pik-potsdam.de
P.O. Box 60 12 03
14412 Potsdam

ORCID

orcid.org/0000-0002-8500-1568

Professional Experience

Since 01/2020
Deputy head of research department Complexity Science at Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)

Since 09/2019
Head of working group Data-based Analysis of Climate Decisions at PIK

Since 09/2018
Principal investigator of Impactee project (funded by Volkswagen foundation)

Since 09/2012
Fellow at Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) in Berlin

09/18-08/19
Postdoc at Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ARE) at University of California (UC), Berkeley

05/16-08/18
Postdoc in working group Global Adaptation Strategies at PIK

02-05/2015
Research stay at Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ARE) at University of California (UC), Berkeley

Education

2016
Ph.D. in Climate Physics/Economics
Grade: summa cum laude
Thesis title: Climate change impacts in an increasingly connected world
First supervisor: Prof. Anders Levermann (Physics, University of Potsdam)
Second supervisor: Prof. Maximilian Auffhammer (Economics, UC Berkeley)
Awards: Scholarship by Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, prize for best PhD thesis awarded by Friends & supporters of PIK, Leibniz dissertation award

2012
M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Mathematics at Philipps University of Marburg, Germany
Grade: very good (1.3/A)
Minors: Psychology
M.Sc. thesis in number theory (grade: 1.0/A+; supervisor: Prof. J. Hinz)

2007
Abitur at Gymnasium Edertalschule in Frankenberg, Germany
Grade: 1.0/A+ 

Research Interests
  • Environmental economics
  • Societal and economic impacts of climate change
  • Social cost of carbon
  • Climate & globalisation
  • Sustainable development

T. Beaufils, H. Ward, M. Jakob, L. Wenz*
Assessing different European Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism implementations and their impact on trade partners. Nature Communications Earth & Environment (2023). DOI 10.1038/s43247-023-00788-4
Press release by PIK 
Data & code

T. Beaufils, E. Berthet, H. Ward, L. Wenz
Beyond production and consumption: Using throughflows to untangle the virtual trade of externalities.
Economic Systems Research (2023). https://doi.org/10.1080/09535314.2023.2174003
Data & code

K. Barton-Henry & L. Wenz*
Nighttime light data reveal lack of full recovery after hurricanes in Southern US
Environmental Research Letters (2022) https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac998d
Code

A. Stechemesser, A. Levermann, L. Wenz*
Temperature impacts on hate speech online: evidence from four billion tweets
The Lancet Planetary Health (2022) https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00173-5
>> The Lancet Planetary Health cover
>>  Press release
>>  Selected media coverage: The Guardian | Bloomberg | EuroNews | ZDF Heute | Spiegel Online | Ärzteblatt | Tagesspiegel | RBB24

M. Jakob, S. Afionis, [...], L. Wenz, S.N. Willner
How trade policy can support the climate agenda
Science (2022)  DOI: 10.1126/science.abo4207
>> Press releases by MCC and PIK

L. Wenz* & S.N. Willner
Climate impacts and global supply chains: an overview [Book chapter]
Handbook on Trade Policy and Climate Change [edited by M. Jakob] (2022).

M. Kotz, A. Levermann, L. Wenz*
The effect of rainfall changes on economic production
Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04283-8
>> Nature cover
>> Nature News & Views
>> Data & code
>>  Press release
>>  Selected media coverage: Sueddeutsche Zeitung | Spiegel Online | Tagesspiegel | MDR | Tagesanzeiger | N-TV | ABC News | Politico | NPR | Australian Financial Review | The Indian Express

A. Stechemesser, L. Wenz*, M. Kotz, A. Levermann
Strong increase of racist tweets outside of climate comfort zone in Europe
Environmental Research Letters (2021). https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac28b3

M. Kotz, L. Wenz, A. Levermann
Footprint of greenhouse forcing in daily temperature variability
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2103294118

T. Beaufils & L. Wenz*
A scenario-based method for projecting multi-regional input-output tables
Economic Systems Research (2021). https://doi.org/10.1080/09535314.2021.1952404

M. Kalkuhl, M. Kotz, L. Wenz*
DOSE - The MCC-PIK Database Of Subnational Economic output (Version 1) [Data set]
Zenodo (2021). http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4681306

K. Kuhla, S.N. Willner, C. Otto, L. Wenz, A. Levermann
Future heat stress to reduce people's purchasing power
PLoS ONE 16 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0251210

K. Barton-Henry, L. Wenz*, A. Levermann
Decay radius of climate decision for solar panels in the city of Fresno, USA
Nature Scientific Reports 11, 8571 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-87714-w
>> Data & Code
>> Press release

>> Selected media coverage: Deutschlandfunk | WDR 5 | MDR | TAZ | Süddeutsche Zeitung

M. Kotz, L. Wenz*, A. Stechemesser, M. Kalkuhl, A. Levermann
Day-to-day temperature variability reduces economic growth.
Nature Climate Change (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-00985-5
>> Data & code
>> Press release
>> Blog post
>> Highlighted in Nature

L. Wenz*, A. Levermann, S.N. Willner, C. Otto, K. Kuhla
Brexit no-trade-deal scenario: short-term consumer benefit at the expense of long-term economic development
PloS ONE 15 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237500

M. Kalkuhl & L. Wenz
The impact of climate conditions on economic production. Evidence from a global panel of regions
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 102360 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2020.102360

>> Data & code
>> Informed  US White House Council of Economic Advisors White Paper  on climate-related macroeconomic risks
>> Informed NGFS Climate Scenarios for central banks and supervisors
>> Selected media coverage: Frankfurter Rundschau (print) | Heise Online | Business Insider

L. Wenz*, U. Weddige, M. Jakob, J.C. Steckel
Road to glory or highway to hell? Global road access and climate change mitigation
Environmental Research Letters 15 (2020). https://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab858d
>> Press release

A. Stechemesser, L. Wenz*, A. Levermann
Corona crisis fuels racially profiled hate in social media networks
The Lancet - EClinicalMedicine (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100372
* PhD student in my lab

F. Ueckerdt, K. Frieler, S. Lange, L. Wenz, G. Luderer, A. Levermann
The economically optimal warming limit of the planet
Earth System Dynamics 10 (2019). https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-10-741-2019

H. Ward, L. Wenz, J.C. Steckel, J.C. Minx
Truncation error estimates in process lifecycle assessment using input-output analysis
Journal of Industrial Ecology 22 (2018). DOI: 10.1111/jiec.12655.

C. Otto, S. N. Willner, L. Wenz, K. Frieler, A. Levermann
Modeling loss-propagation in the global supply network: The dynamic agent-based model acclimate
Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 83 (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.jedc.2017.08.001
>> Open source code of acclimate model

L. Wenz*, A. Levermann, M. Auffhammer
North-South polarization of European electricity consumption under future warming
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114 (2017). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1704339114.
>> Press release
>> Selected media coverage: Carbon Brief | The Guardian | Spiegel Online (german) | Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (german) | El País (spanish) | NRC Handesblad (dutch)

L. Wenz
Climate change impacts in an increasingly connected world**
University of Potsdam (2016)
** Dissertation

L. Wenz
Globalization has made our economies more vulnerable to climate change***
World Economic Forum (2016)
*** Popular writing

L. Wenz* & A. Levermann
Enhanced economic connectivity to foster heat stress-related losses
Science Advances 2 (2016). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1501026.
>> Press release
>> Selected media coverage: Washington Post | Bloomberg | The Times of India | Spiegel Online (german)
>> Radio interview discussing the study in Deutschlandfunk (german)
>> Motivated parliamentary enquiry on the resilience of the German economy
>> Response by German government
>> Informed stakeholder dialogue on the indirect effects of global climate change on the German economy organized by the Federal Environmental Agency (UBA)

C. Bren d'Amour, L. Wenz, M. Kalkuhl, J.C. Steckel, F. Creutzig
Teleconnected food supply shocks
Environmental Research Letters 11 (2016). DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/11/3/035007.
>> Press release
>> Selected media coverage: Phys.org | Energie Zukunft (german)

L. Wenz*, S.N. Willner, A. Radebach, R. Bierkandt, J.C. Steckel, A. Levermann
Regional and sectoral disaggregation of multi-regional input-output tables - a flexible algorithm
Economic Systems Research 27 (2015), DOI: 10.1080/09535314.2014.987731.
>> C++ implementation by S. Willner

L. Wenz, S.N. Willner, R. Bierkandt, A. Levermann
Acclimate - a model for economic damage propagation. Part II: A dynamic formulation of the backward effects of disaster-induced productions failures in the global supply network
Environment Systems and Decisions 34 (2014). DOI: 10.1007/s10669-014-9521-6.

R. Bierkandt, L. Wenz, S.N. Willner, A. Levermann
Acclimate - a model for economic damage propagation. Part I: Basic formulation of damage transfer within a global supply network and damage conserving dynamics
Environment Systems and Decisions 34 (2014). DOI: 10.1007/s10669-014-9523-4.

* corresponding author

ImpactEE (principal investigator)
  • Impact of intensified weather extremes on Europe's economy
  • Funded by Volkswagen Foundation  as part of the Europe & global challenges initiative (2017-2023)
  • Joint with Columbia University (A. Sobel), UC Berkeley (M. Auffhammer) and University of Sydney (M. Lenzen)
  • More information: http://portal.volkswagenstiftung.de/search/projectDetails.do?ref=93350
  • Additional module: What can we learn from the Corona crisis to enhance our societies' resilience to intensified weather extremes?

Member of German Young Academy (2022-2027)

  • Elected Member of German Young Academy (Junge Akademie) at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Science and National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina

UC Berkeley Postdoc Fellowship (2018-2019)
  • Ciriacy-Wantrup Postdoctoral Fellowship in Natural Resource Economics and Political Economy
  • Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics (mentor: Prof. Max Auffhammer)
Leibniz Dissertation Award (2017)
6th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Economic Sciences (2017)
  • selected for participation as young economist
  • sponsored by Mars Inc. and Leibniz Association
PIK Dissertation Prize (2017)
  • prize for best Ph.D. thesis 2016
  • awarded by Society of Friends & Promoters of PIK
Graduate Scholarship (2013-2016)
  • scholarship for dissertation project
  • awarded by German Environmental Foundation (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, DBU)
Research Scholarship (2015)
  • scholarship for research stay at UC Berkeley
  • awarded by German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Climate impactsAcclimateAdaptationNonlinear Data AnalysisGlobalInequality and equityEconomicsRD4 - Complexity ScienceComplex NetworksMachine LearningSustainable Development