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

Leonie Wenz leads the working group Data-based analysis of climate decisions at PIK and acts as deputy head of Research Department IV Complexity Science. She is affiliated with the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC).

Leonie conducts research on the socioeconomic impacts of climate change by use of various mathematical data-analysis methods and models. In particular, she studies how we - individually and as societies - respond to weather extremes and a changing climatic environment with the aim of deriving sustainable adaptation strategies and development pathways. She has contributed to the development of the agent-based numerical model acclimate that can be used to investigate global economic response dynamics to local shocks.

A mathematician by training, Leonie earned her Ph.D. from University of Potsdam and PIK with a dissertation at the intersection of Climate Physics and Economics (summa cum laude). She completed a Postdoc at UC Berkeley as part of the prestigious Ciriacy-Wantrup programme in Natural Resource Economics and Public Policy.

Leonie has won several prizes and awards for her work (e.g. Leibniz dissertation award). Her research has appeared in, among others, Nature, Nature Climate Change, PNAS, Science Advances and Journal of Environmental Economics and Management and has informed e.g. the German parliament.

Research Interests
  • Societal and economic impacts of weather extremes
  • Climate decisions
  • Climate change & sustainable economic development
  • Climate impacts in a globally connected world
  • Econometrics, agent-based modeling, mathematical data analysis

M. Kotz*, S. Lange, L. Wenz, A. Levermann
Changes in mean and extreme precipitation scale universally with global mean temperature across and within climate models
Journal of Climate (submitted) [Working Paper version]

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

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
>> Press release
>> Selected media coverage: Frankfurter Rundschau (print) | Heise Online | Business Insider
>> Informed NGFS Climate Scenarios for central banks and supervisors

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

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 [Dissertation]
University of Potsdam (2016)

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

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.

* PhD students in my lab group

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?

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