“World’s top climate scientists”: many PIK researchers feature prominently in Reuters ranking

Germany's top 3 climate researchers according to Reuters are PIK's Elmar Kriegler, Gunnar Luderer and Alexander Popp. Notably they are all part of PIK's research department “Transformation Pathways” which focuses on mitigation and climate change impact pathways. Elmar Kriegler leads the department, while deputy head Gunnar Luderer chairs the Energy System Group and Alexander Popp leads a research group on land-use management. The department's mitigation pathway analyses have informed the assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and are thus very influential and highly cited. They contribute to the scientific community of ‘Integrated Assessment Modelling’, which plays quite an important role in the Reuters ranking.

The top 3 overall most influential climate scientists featured in the ranking are Keywan Riahi (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austria), Anthony A Leiserowitz (Yale University, United States), and Pierre Friedlingstein (University of Exeter, United Kingdom). Further researchers from PIK on the list include Ottmar Edenhofer, Stefan Rahmstorf, Dieter Gerten, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Hermann Lotze-Campen, Katja Frieler, Nico Bauer, Anders Levermann, and many others.