Food sector emissions accounting: Sharing responsibility across the value chain
06/09/2022 - A new approach to account for emissions caused in the food sector that considers trade, as technical as it sounds, could help meet greenhouse gas reduction targets. Spreading the responsibility to reduce onto all countries along a product’s value chain could yield substantial effects, according to a study now published in Nature Communications.
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Climate Economics: Policies change People
06/09/22 - The makers of climate policy should rethink about how people think: A team of researchers led by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) shows that abiding by climate-friendly policies actually changes the way people think about what they do. People’s preferences are more malleable than textbook economics often assumes. The researchers’ advice to policy makers is to take changing preferences into account when tailoring policies like carbon taxes or building low-carbon infrastructure.
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PIK-Scientist Svenja Fluhrer awarded with Early Career Best Paper Award
06/03/2022 - Development economist Svenja Fluhrer was awarded with the prize "Ökonomie des Klimawandels - Early Career Best Paper Award" of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. She received the award for her paper "Sitting in the same boat: Subjective well-being and social comparison after an extreme weather event", published in Ecological Economics.
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Projecting climate change impacts: Cross-sectoral ISIMIP-PROCLIAS workshop full success
05/27/2022 - From risks in the Sixth IPCC Assessment Report to the future of climate modelling and progress in compound event research: The ISIMIP-PROCLIAS workshop 2022 featured a number of diverse topics around climate impact modelling.
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Nu-Tree project started: Integrating nutrition and health aspects into agroforestry projects in sub-Saharan Africa
17/05/2021 – The project ‘Integrating nutrition and health into agroforestry projects of GIZ and NGOs in sub-Saharan Africa: A feasibility study’ (short: Nu-Tree) aims to create awareness of the nutrition and health aspects of agroforestry projects for key stakeholders and to support their implementation and evaluation in future agroforestry programs. It is funded by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) and will be implemented from April 2022 until March 2024.
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How to avoid eating the world: From degrowth to a sustainable food system transformation
05/16/2022 - Proponents of degrowth have long argued that economic growth is detrimental to the environment. Now scientists show that concerning the food sector, curbing growth alone would not make our food system sustainable – but changing what we eat and putting a price on carbon would. In a first, a group led by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) used a quantitative food and land system model to gauge the effects of degrowth and efficiency proposals on the food sector’s greenhouse gas emissions. They find that combining a dietary shift, emissions pricing, and international income transfers could make the world’s food system emissions-neutral by the end of the 21st century – providing at the same time a healthier nutrition for a growing world population.
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PIK experts appointed to Berlin's "Klimaschutzrat"
05/13/22 - Two PIK researchers, Cornelia Auer and Julia Epp, have been appointed to the "Klimaschutzrat" of the city of Berlin. The 18-member body with experts from science, business and representatives of civil society will advise the Berlin Senate and the House of Representatives on issues of climate mitigation and energy policy.
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Fungi-based meat alternatives to help save Earth’s forests
05/04/22 - Substituting just a fifth of meat from cattle with microbial protein - a meat alternative produced in fermentation tanks - by 2050 could halve deforestation, a new analysis by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) now published in Nature finds. The market-ready meat alternative is very similar in taste and texture, but is a biotech product which – by replacing beef – involves much less land resources and greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and land-use change. This goes under the assumption of a growing world population’s increasing appetite for beefy bites, and it is the first time researchers have projected the development of these market-ready meat substitutes into the future, assessing their potential impact on the environment.
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Sustaining Peace Amidst the Climate Crisis: PIK Scientists at the Federal Foreign Office
05/04/2022 - How can data and innovative technologies be used for climate protection and crisis prevention?
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Citizen participation for energy transition in Hesse and Berlin
04/25/2022 - Citizen participation is an important element of modern policy for the energy transition. Sociologist Fritz Reusswig from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research is involved in corresponding approaches in the two federal states of Hesse and Berlin and will be participating in events there this week. His research group works, among other things, on energy conflicts.
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New Advisory Council for Area Development of the Ministry of Construction
04/25/2022 - The Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building (BMWSB) has appointed Hermann Lotze-Campen, a researcher from Potsdam, to its new Advisory Council for Area Development. The aim of the advisory board is to advise the ministry in the current legislative period on fundamental questions of spatial development and the strengthening of regions in Germany. Lotze-Campen, an agricultural economist, heads the Climate Resilience Department at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).
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Food crisis due to Ukraine war calls for demand-side action: less animal products, less waste, and greening EU agricultural policy
03/18/2022 - The global food system is impacted by the war in Ukraine, adding to the direct humanitarian and security crisis caused by the Russian aggression. Ukraine and Russia are major producers of grains and fertilizers, yet their exports are at risk of getting disrupted. However, agricultural policy-makers – like the EU ministers meeting on Monday – should not abandon sustainable farming practices just to increase grain production, a team of scientists argues. They propose three key measures to cope with the shocks. In a statement published today they highlight that, instead of focusing only on the supply side for e.g. animal feed, it is changing the demand side which can lead to both a more resilient and more sustainable global food system.
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Key-note speech by Hermann Lotze-Campen at online workshop on agricultural research on climate change
02/03/2022 - The workshop series 'Agricultural Research on Climate Change' by the German Agricultural Research Alliance (DAFA) offers a platform for interdisciplinary exchanges and discussions on a broad range of topics. The workshop dedicated to 'Climate-friendly cattle farming - measuring, assessing and reducing methane emissions' featured a key-note speech from RD2 Department Head Hermann Lotze-Campen.
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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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Potsdam Summer School 2022: Towards a Sustainable Transformation
02/22/2022 - Climate, Energy and Nature in a Changing World – with this overarching theme the Potsdam Summer School will continue the transdisciplinary and interactive series of events that has been held annually in Potsdam, Germany since 2014. It brings together talented early-career scientists and young professionals operating in the private sector, governmental agencies, and non-governmental organisations from many different parts of the world to discuss frontier research questions on future sustainable development and contribute their insights at this exceptional opportunity to foster cooperation and an interdisciplinary exchange of ideas. The call for applications is now open!
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German launch of WBGU discussion paper on Planetary Health
02/02/2022 – The German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) launched its discussion paper on planetary health in an online event with national and international key stakeholders. Prof. Sabine Gabrysch, head of PIK’s RD2, opened the session with a short presentation underlining the importance of planetary health in the socio-ecological transformation.
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India’s rice at risk: Brown planthopper a growing threat as global warming increases
01/28/2022 - Climate change increases the risk of brown planthopper rice pest in India, one of the most alarming pests of this important agricultural staple. This is the result of a new study. Particularly increasing temperatures play a crucial role in the spreading, potentially doubling the total area under high pest risk from seven to more than 15 percent – even if global temperature rise can be kept below 2 °C. If unabated, climate change could further contribute to the spreading of the pest in the future, possibly leading to more than 50 percent of Indian rice production areas under severe threat by the brown planthopper.
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Taxing Meat can Protect the Environment: New Study by Oxford, PIK, and TU Berlin
01/17/2022 - A 20-60 % increase in prices for meat through a tax could be an important lever for aligning Western diets with environmental goals and can be designed such that low-income households and farmers are compensated.
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PIK Podcast: A plate full of sustainability - Chef Megha Kohli and scientist Hermann Lotze-Campen take a mouthful
12/20/2021 - A new episode of the podcast "Sustain Ability. The Potsdam Dialogues" is out. From cauliflower to climate change: Chef Megha Kohli from New Delhi, India, and agricultural economist Hermann Lotze-Campen from the Potsdam Institute talk about what’s cooking in our current food system.
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WBGU invites discussion on Planetary Health
12/14/2021 - Online discussion by the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) on planetary health kicked off with an impulse statement by Sabine Gabrysch on health and global sustainability.
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China’s crops at risk: Climate change boosts spread of crop pests and diseases
12/09/2021 - Crop pests and diseases in China have significantly increased, with climate change being one of the relevant drivers, new research in Nature Food finds.
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Too dry, too hot, or too wet: Increasing Weather Persistence in European Summer
12/06/2021 - Global warming makes long lasting weather situations in the Northern hemisphere‘s summer months more likely – which in turn leads to more extreme weather events, a novel analysis of atmospheric images and data finds. These events include heatwaves, droughts, intense rainy periods. Especially in Europe, but also in Russia, persistent weather patterns have increased in number and intensity over the last decades with weather extremes occurring simultaneously at different locations.
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Climate change to stir up global agriculture within next decade, NASA/PIK study finds
11/02/2021 - New computer simulations predict deep changes in growing conditions affecting the productivity of major crops already within the next 10 years if current global warming trends continue. Maize crop yields are projected to decline by almost a quarter by the end the century, while wheat could potentially see global yield increases of about 17%. Current key breadbasket regions will see severe changes much quicker than previously expected, requiring farmers around the world to adapt to new climate realities now.
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Drought, heavy rain and heat waves will affect tourism business
10/28/2021 - A new study for the Federal German Environment Agency with PIK participation shows how travel regions can adapt to climate change. Climate change in Germany will lead to more heat, increased drought with water scarcity and forest fires, less snow reliability, and increased heavy rain and flooding. Tourism will have to adapt.
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New Lancet Countdown Policy Brief for Germany confirms considerable need for action
10/21/2021 - Despite a growing awareness of the situation's seriousness among those with political responsibility, Germany is only inadequately equipped for the health challenges of climate change. This is the conclusion of this year's report on climate and health, which is published annually by experts from the German Medical Association, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Helmholtz Zentrum München.
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Today’s children to experience two to seven times more extremes than their grandparents
09/27/2021 - Today’s children will be hit much harder by climate extremes than today’s adults, researchers show in the leading journal Science. During their lifetime, a child born in 2021 will experience on average twice as many wildfires, between two and three times more droughts, almost three times more river floods and crop failures, and seven times more heatwaves compared to a person who’s for instance 60 years old today, the researchers find based on data from the Inter-sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP). This is under a scenario of current greenhouse gas emission reduction pledges by governments which will be a topic at the upcoming world climate summit COP26 in Glasgow.
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Launch of WHO Pandemic Early Warning Center with PIK Researcher Sabine Gabrysch
09/03/2021 - The World Health Organization (WHO) launched a pandemic early warning center in Berlin this week to assist in better preparing for future pandemics. The center was opened by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus - with a panel discussion in which Sabine Gabrysch from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) also participated.
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Less trade-offs, more synergies: New pathway to mitigate climate change and boost progress on UN Sustainable Development Goals
08/02/2021 - A world that combats climate change while simultaneously improving on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is possible, a new study finds. Scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the German Development Institute have developed a new integrated strategy that combines ambitious climate action with dedicated policies for development, food and energy access, global and national equity, and environmental sustainability. It sheds new light on bottlenecks, but also synergies for boosting progress towards climate and sustainable development targets.
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PIK expertise on extreme rainfall and flooding
07/16/2021 - The heavy rains and thunderstorms in parts of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate during the past days have led to massive flooding of villages and entire areas. Meanwhile, towards the rivers Oder and Neiße, extreme heat prevailed at more than 30 degrees Celsius. Where these extraordinary weather conditions stem from and their connection with climate change, many national and international media wanted to know from PIK researchers. Here is a small excerpt from the coverage.
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RD2 Beitrag über die rolle einer demokratischen Konfliktkultur auf Berliner Energietage
06/04/2021 - Populistische Parteien und Akteure haben den Kampf gegen die Energiewende als ein Thema für sich entdeckt und versuchen diese als "Elitenprojekt" zu diffamieren. In diesem Session, moderiert durch RD2 Wissenschaftler Seraja Bock, sprechen Expert*innen über diese populistischen Akteuren, wie sie auf das Prozess Einfluss nehmen und was eine demokratische Konfliktkultur dem entgegen setzen könnte.
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