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2014

Charity concert on the Telegraph Hill: The sound of the forest

09/02/2014 - For the second time, soloists of the renowned Staatskapelle Berlin and singers of the State Opera gathered for an exceptional charity concert on the Telegrafenberg (Telegraph Hill) in Potsdam. In the suspenseful darkness of the Great Refractor, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber - Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) - spoke of the reason for creating and promoting this unique mix of music and science: "Science can appeal to the the mind of man, but music can win over his heart." Complemented by short presentations of PIK researchers Hermann Lotze-Campen, Susanne Rolinski and Christopher Reyer, this year's concert focused on "The Sound of the Forest" and included both classical and contemporary compositions.

The cost of delay: White House report citing PIK research

08/30/2014 - Delaying climate policy might enhance costs substantially. The US government in a major recent report makes this finding a central message, citing a number of studies led by scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). Mitigation costs increase, on average, by approximately 40 percent for each decade of delay, the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors states in the report. Inaction is likely to cause persistent economic damages, they argue – many billions of Dollars each year in the US alone.

Reforming emissions trading: Failure is not an option

07/30/2014 - Courageous steps are required to reform the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, argues Ottmar Edenhofer from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in a comment piece now published in Nature Climate Change. The centerpiece of the European climate policy is currently under great scrutiny, as permit prices have been too low to incentivize a switch to low- or zero-emission alternatives. While some ideas to correct this already move in the right direction, only a broad approach embedding for instance a price corridor could restore the main pillar of climate policy in the EU, argues Edenhofer.

IPCC Co-Chair calls for re-thinking of policy assessments

07/04/2014 – When the Working Group III (WGIII) contribution to the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report, the most comprehensive assessment of climate change mitigation options to date, was accepted by IPCC member governments in April this year, governments could not agree on parts of its Summary for Policymakers during the approval process. As a result the material was cut. In the current edition of the journal Science, a Co-Chair and leading authors of Working Group III re-visit the approval session and comment on deleted content and the strengths and weaknesses of the IPCC process in a series of articles.

CO2 is fertilizing hidden hunger

06/27/2014 - While CO2 emissions from fossil fuels are a driver of climate change with potentially negative impacts on crop yields, they are also a fertilizer for the plants. However, this effect comes at the expense of a deterioration of the current nutritional value of food, new research by the Harvard School of Public Health and others shows. This might lead to hidden hunger, researchers of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research argue in a recent commentary published in Nature Climate Change. Diets with sufficient calorie content could come with an insufficient supply of vitamins and minerals.

High-ranking Chinese researchers visit PIK

06/17/2014 - A high-level delegation from China was brought up to speed on a variety of topics - from rising sea levels to the problems of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) - during a visit to the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). The delegation was led by Du Xiangwan, Director of the China Expert Panel on Climate Change (EPCC), which advises the Chinese State Council. Other acclaimed scholars from renowned Chinese institutions such as Tsinghua University were also present, including He Jiankun, Zhou Dadi and Chao Qingchen. The delegation also included Tian Chengchuan, Yuan Jiashuang and Zhu Songli, all of whom hold notable positions in key advisory bodies such as the National Development and Reform Commission (NRDC). China is currently discussing its future carbon emission targets. Due to the country’s critical impact on the global climate and international climate policy, the outcome of this deliberation has been the subject of intense speculation and anticipation.

Air pollution and climate policies: workshop in Beijing

06/20/2014 – Policies aimed at countering climate change can have important co-benefits in terms of reduced air pollution and hence on public health. Now for the first time, a so-called multi model comparison was used by researchers to scrutinize this interplay using a whole set of different computer simulations of economic and social processes. Their findings, including a robust win-win-scenario, were recently at the center of a workshop in smoggy Beijing. It was hosted by the Energy Research Institute of the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission (ERI-NDRC), which is one of the most important players in the field, whereas the research project itself is coordinated by the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM). The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) is part of the steering group and led a major analysis of 2 degree scenarios that was conducted by the project.

First Potsdam Summer School to focus on Arctic climate change

06/13/2014 - "Arctic in the Anthropocene" – the present geological era which has been dominated by humankind – will be the main focus of the Potsdam Summer School. During the two-week program, 40 selected young international scientists and experts will exchange ideas on a wide range of issues, including the melting of Greenland’s ice sheets and marine biology. In northern regions of the world, the effects of climate change have already become quite apparent. In collaboration with the Alfred Wegner Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) and the University of Potsdam, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) will be organizing the event, which will be held from June 23 to July 4, 2014, and is likely to be continued on an annual basis in the future.

World Bank hosts IPCC report presentation

06/12/2014 - Dealing with climate change is an exercise of risk management, two leading authors of the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports said at a major World Bank event in Washington D.C. last week. Chris Field of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University, co-chair of the IPCC working group on climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability addressed about 600 people both in the room and online, together with Ottmar Edenhofer of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, co-chair of the IPCC working group on climate change mitigation.

German Federal Environment Minister Hendricks Visits PIK

06/03/2014 – German Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks was briefed by scientists of the Postdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) on current research developments. The minister, who has only held this office for several months, discussed recent findings and their impact on politics with PIK Director Hans Joachim Schellnhuber as well as other researchers. The focus of the talks was on the difficulties encountered in implementing climate policies.

"Excellent researcher, warm manners": farewell symposium for Gerstengarbe

06/02/2014 - One of the founding members and key figures of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) was honored with a farewell symposium last week. Friedrich-Wilhelm Gerstengarbe, assistant director of the institute and co-chair of its research domain Climate Impacts and Vulnerabilities, embarked on his retirement. About 200 peers, colleagues, and friends, gathered to debate an issue dear to Gerstengarbe, a meteorologist who always cared about the practical implications of his findings: 'Climate and Climate Impact Research between Science and Society'.

Emissions trading reform could result in billions of euros for European countries

05/23/2014 - With a reform of the European Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), the economically troubled countries of southern Europe could increase their revenues by several billion euros per year while also increasing their competitiveness. This was the finding of an analysis conducted by the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) headed by Ottmar Edenhofer, chief-economist of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. It was one of the issues debated at an international workshop in Berlin under the title "Closing the carbon price gap: public finance and climate policy", chaired by Edenhofer.

Two PIK researchers appointed professor at Humboldt University

05/23/2014 - Industrial ecology and land use: for these two research areas leading scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) have recently been appointed professor at the Humboldt University in Berlin. “We are glad that Professor Helga Weisz and Professor Hermann Lotze-Campen, two renowned climate scientists, are joining HU, and that PIK and HU today are connected through no less than five professorships,” says Peter Frensch, Vice-President for Research at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

Expert survey on the German Energiewende: Mapping the targets

05/19/2014 - The targets of the German Energiewende are much debated. For the first time, scientists published a comprehensive mapping of these targets – from climate change mitigation to energy security and the creation of jobs. The analysis is based on anonymized interviews with 54 high-ranking experts from policy, business and science. 80 percent of them say that emissions reduction is the highest priority – but there is a bulk of additional and contradictory targets.

Science night: Thousands of visitors on telegraph hill

05/14/2014 - Once again the Long Night of the Sciences attracted thousands to visit telegraph hill. Until midnight all institutes of the Albert Einstein science park opened their doors for interested guests. Talks, experiments, guided tours: The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research presented itself with a varied program for visitors of all ages.

“Outstanding young scientist” awarded

05/13/2014 - The European Geosciences Union (EGU) gave the award “Outstanding Young Scientist” of its division Energy, Resources and the Environment to Tabea K. Lissner from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. The PhD-student received the prize at the annual meeting of more than 12,000 scientists form 106 countries in Vienna last week. She was honoured for contributing “to important advancements in the work needed to tackle the challenges associated with the provision of energy and other social resources,” according to the laudatio.

Global warming can be limited to 2 degrees with major technological and institutional change: IPCC report

Many pathways to substantial greenhouse-gas reductions are available at relatively little cost, a landmark report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows. Among the options put on the table there are the use of bioenergy combined with carbon capture and storage, and comprehensive pricing of CO2 emissions. The report's team of authors has been led by Ottmar Edenhofer, vice-director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

IPCC landmark report on climate change mitigation to be launched

04/07/2014 - The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will soon launch its much-awaited report on climate change mitigation. On April 14, key findings of the Working Group led by Ottmar Edenhofer of the Potsdam-Institute for Climate Impact Research will be presented at the Technical University in Berlin. The public event will be attended by Germany’s Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, Sigmar Gabriel.

„The risk is clear and present“: IPCC report on climate impacts

04/03/2014 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) this Monday released its milestone report on climate change impacts on societies and nature and on adaptation. From the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Wolfgang Cramer was one of just eleven German scientists to participate in the final approval sessions with government representatives from all over the world in Yokohama, Japan. In Berlin, he was one of the speakers at the first presentation of the report at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. Another speaker was Katja Frieler, also from PIK, who led the first comprehensive intersectoral impacts model Intercomparison (ISI-MIP). Many important findings from this project have in fact been incorporated into the new IPCC report.

Elbe has low water levels: „A rainy summer would be nice“

03/28/2014 - Water levels of the Elbe and other big German rivers are currently as low as normally in late summer. Scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research have examined extremely low water levels as well as floods for a long time, but the current observed aridness goes beyond the scientists´ scenarios. This could have serious impacts on shipping and agriculture. Individual actors already warn of a record drought. -