Topics ranged from latest research on mitigation strategies to new approaches how to model complex dynamical systems or the visualization of big data in climate change communication. PIK´s chief economist Ottmar Edenhofer talked about the Paris Agreement and the renaissance of coal, stressing that international cooperation and the level of ambition need to be increased to keep the 2° limit within reach.
One focus of this year´s meeting were the research challenges and opportunities of climate change and public health, elaborated by guest speaker Rainer Sauerborn from the Institute for Public Health of the University of Heidelberg. He highlighted the manifold unanswered questions in this field that need to be explored in future scientific cooperations across the disciplines, and his keynote led to a lively discussion.
PIK director John Schellnhuber appeared very pleased with the institute´s outstanding performance. With the numbers of ISI publications growing and quotations of PIK science increasing exponentially, the year 2015 has been exceptionally successful, crowned by the promising Paris Agreement in December.
