Two PIK researchers involved in new IPCC Special Report on cities

The Special Report marks the start of the panel’s seventh assessment cycle. According to the IPCC, the report will provide a “timely assessment of the latest science related to climate change and cities”, including climate impacts and risks, as well as solutions that can be taken to minimise them. Today, more than half of the world's population is already living in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase by 2050.

Gunnar Luderer will be involved as a lead author in Chapter 3, “Actions and solutions to reduce urban risks and emissions”. At PIK, he is deputy head of the research department “Transformation Pathways” and head of the “Energy Transition Lab”. He is also Professor of Global Energy Systems Analysis at the Technische Universität Berlin and serves as deputy leader of the Kopernikus project Ariadne.

Felix Creutzig will be a lead author on chapter 5, “Solutions by city type and region”. At PIK, he heads the research group “Cities: Data Science and Sustainable Planning" in the research department “Climate Economics and Policy – MCC Berlin”, which was newly established at the beginning of the year. He is also a professor of Sustainability Economics of Human Settlements at the Technische Universität Berlin.

The seventh assessment report (“AR7”), the centrepiece of the new assessment cycle, is expected to be published by 2029 at the latest. The Special Reports published so far were on “1.5°C Global Warming” (2018) as well as “Climate Change and Land” and “The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate” (both 2019).