“Research and innovation are essential to design technologies and policy trajectories that will allow meeting the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change,” says Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation. “Our capacity to provide the best available science evidence will be instrumental for future decisions. This is what we expect by the high-level panel that starts working today.”
"Europe can and should pioneer the global movement towards a cleaner and greener future,” says PIK director Hans Joachim Schellnhuber. “I feel honoured that Commissioner Moedas asked me to participate in this venture that will identify viable trajectories based on the best scientific evidence. 195 countries agreed in Paris to decarbonise their production and consumption systems within just a few decades. This is the right decision, yet will require political, technological, economic and social action at an unprecedented scale. In fact, 2016 needs to be year one of the Great Transformation towards sustainability."
Respected personalities from academia, business, and society form the panel:
Peter BAKKER, President and CEO of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD); former CEO of TNT NV
Catia BASTIOLI, Chief Executive Officer of Novamont, CEO of Mater-Biotech, CEO of Matrica; inventor of around 80 patent families in the sector of synthetic and natural polymers and transformation processes of renewable raw materials
Paul EKINS, Professor of Resources and Environmental Policy at and Director of the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, University College London; Deputy Director of the UK Energy Research Centre
Beata JACZEWSKA, Executive Director, International Visegrad Fund; former Ministerial Advisor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, the Ministry of Economy of Poland, and former Undersecretary of State, Ministry of the Environment of Poland
Barbara KUX, Member of the Boards Firmenich, Groupe Engie, Henkel, Total and Umicore; former Member of the Managing Board and Chief Sustainability Officer at Siemens
Hans-Joachim SCHELLNHUBER, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK); Professor of Physics at Potsdam University; Co-Chair of the Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) for the German federal government
Laurence TUBIANA, Ambassador of France for Climate Change Negotiations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development; Special Representative of France for COP21; Professor, Sciences Po Paris and Professor, Columbia University; Director, Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI)
Maria VAN DER HOEVEN, Senior Associate Fellow at Clingendael International Energy Program (CIEP); member of Board of Trustees of RWE and of Rocky Mountain Institute; non-executive Member of Board of TOTAL; former Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA)
Karin WANNGÅRD, Mayor, City of Stockholm; leader of the Social Democrats in Stockholm Municipality; aiming at making the Swedish Capital fossil fuel free by 2040
For further information please contact:
PIK press office
Phone: +49 331 288 25 07
E-Mail: press@pik-potsdam.de
Twitter: @PIK_Climate
www.pik-potsdam.de
