Diabetes, dementia, depression: Adapting fuel taxes could benefit people’s health
10/13/2023 - The health benefits from walking and cycling are so significant that they should be included in fuel tax design, shows of a new study published in the journal Economica. Optimal fuel tax rates would increase by 44% in the US and by 38% in the UK if the costs for the health system that arise from too little exercise were taken into account. The revenue could be used for low-carbon transport or to compensate affected households to build support for sustainable transport.
Read More
Alexander Popp appointed to the new Lancet Commission on Prevention of Viral Spillover
10/12/2023 - Alexander Popp, research group leader on Land-Use Management at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), has been appointed as a Commissioner to the newly established Lancet–PPATS Commission on Prevention of Viral Spillover. The Commission strives to reduce risk of future pandemics while promoting a healthier, more sustainable and more equitable future. The new Commission kicks off its work on 13 October 2023.
Read More
Stuck to the subway: less privileged people have fewer possibilities to adapt their mobility behaviour to heat
10/10/2023 - Extreme heat amplifies social inequalities when it comes to subway usage and mobility in big cities, a new study shows. Analyzing the effect of temperature on people’s mobility behavior in New York City, researchers from the Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research (PIK) find that especially in low-income areas there are little possibilities for subway users to adapt to and mitigate heat by reducing mobility. This could lead to additional heat stress and increase health risks.
Read More
“Shaping European environmental policy”: Ottmar Edenhofer on ENDS Europe Impact List
10/09/2023 - Ottmar Edenhofer, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research PIK and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), is one of the 30 EU politicians and professionals who have played a significant role in shaping the European environmental policy over the past two years. For the first time, ENDS Europe, a European environmental policy news service, has compiled a list of the stakeholders who shape EU environmental policy through their important work.
Read More
A destabilizing link: Amazon rainforest degradation and deforestation endanger the South American monsoon
10/04/2023 - The impacts of global warming, deforestation and intensified land use are pushing the South American monsoon towards a critical destabilization point, a new study published in the journal Science Advances shows. Once crossed, substantially less rainfall is to be expected in large parts of the South American continent. In turn, this would have major implications for the stability of the Amazon rainforest, as even areas not yet directly affected by land use change would be at risk of dieback.
Read More
Remembering Vladimir Petoukhov
10/04/2023 - The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research PIK is grieving Vladimir Petoukhov, a renowned climate scientist and pioneer of Russian climate modeling, who has passed away on 4 September 2023.
Read More
New project will make PIK model REMIND-MAgPIE more accessible and easier to use
10/04/2023 - Less barriers, more open access and a vibrant user community - a new Research Software Engineering project at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) will increase the accessibility of the REMIND-MAgPIE framework to third-party users. The new project is going to start in January 2024 and will be funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). REMIND-MAgPIE is an integrated assessment modelling framework used by scientists worldwide in order to quantify the complex dynamics within and between the energy, land-use, water, economy and climate systems.
Read More
PIK Director Ottmar Edenhofer appointed to the Forum Zukunftsstrategie
09/21/2023 - Climate economist Ottmar Edenhofer has been appointed to the Forum #Zukunftsstrategie. The director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) is one of 21 experts from business, science and civil society who will advise the Federal Government on the implementation of the “Zukunftsstrategie” (Strategy for the Future). The new body began its work at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) on 21 September 2023.
Read More
Getting expectations right more relevant than getting prices right: Credibility is key for policies to achieve net zero targets
09/18/2023 - For net-zero policies to be successful, it is key that they succeed in shaping the expectations of private investors that long-term targets are firm. This is the result of new research by scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Resources for the Future and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published today in Nature Climate Change.
Read More
More economic struggle, less care about the environment
09/15/2023 - When international trade hurts people economically, they care less about environmental issues, finds a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change. An international team of scientists shows that economic shocks drive trade-exposed groups more doubtful towards climate change, leading to a withdrawing support for sustainable and green policies.
Read More
A full picture of planetary resilience: All boundaries mapped out, six of nine crossed
09/13/2023 - For the first time, an international team of scientists is able to provide a detailed outline of planetary resilience by mapping out all nine boundary processes that define a safe operating space for humanity. From global warming to the biosphere and deforestation, from pollutants & plastic to nitrogen cycles and freshwater: Six of nine planetary boundaries are being transgressed, while pressure in all those boundary processes is increasing, cutting-edge research published in the journal Science Advances shows.
Read More
Stability inspection for West Antarctica: marine ice sheet not destabilized yet, but possibly on tipping path
09/07/2023 - Antarctica’s vast ice masses seem far away, yet they store enough water to raise global sea levels by several meters. A team of experts from European research institutes has now provided the first systematic stability inspection of the ice sheet’s current state. Their diagnosis: While they found no indication of irreversible, self-reinforcing retreat of the ice sheet in West Antarctica yet, global warming to date could already be enough to trigger the slow but certain loss of ice over the next hundreds to thousands of years.
Read More
On the DWD's Summer Report 2023: In the midst of climate change
08/30/2023 - The German Weather Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst, DWD) has presented its 2023 summer report. PIK researcher Fred Hattermann comments: "This year's precipitation cannot compensate for the precipitation deficit that has accumulated over the past years."
Read More
Climate extremes hit stressed economies even harder
08/30/2023 - Economies already under stress respond more strongly to weather events like heat waves, river floods and tropical cyclones, a new study shows. A global economic crisis as during the Covid-19 pandemic strongly amplifies the price increases private households experience from the impacts of weather extremes, a team of researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) finds. The price impacts tripled in China, doubled in the United States and increased by a third in the European Union.
Read More
Past abrupt changes in North Atlantic Overturning have impacted the climate system across the globe
08/29/2023 - Abrupt climate changes have affected rainfall patterns worldwide in the past, especially in the tropical monsoon region, a new study shows. An international team of scientists used dripstones from globally distributed caves together with model simulations to analyse the global impacts of rapid Northern-Hemisphere temperature increases, the widely studied Dansgaard-Oeschger events, that repeatedly occurred during the last ice age. The comparison of stalagmite and model data shows in unprecedented detail how these abrupt changes and the associated modifications of the Atlantic overturning circulation, AMOC for short, have affected global atmospheric circulation.
Read More
John Schellnhuber new Director General at IIASA
08/02/2023 - PIK Founding Director Hans Joachim (John) Schellnhuber will take over the position of Director General at the International Institute for Applied System Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg near Vienna on 1 December 2023. His great expertise in the field of climate change has earned him worldwide recognition.
Read More
Amazon in the firetrap: Deforestation and warming lock rainforest in dry and damaged grassland state
07/12/2023 - Global warming and drastic deforestation could dry out the Amazon rainforest faster and enforce the risk of keeping it downright fire-trapped. A new study published in Nature Communications Earth and Environment shows: Fire can be a decisive factor for a potential tipping of the Amazon rainforest, as it is capable of locking large parts of the Amazon in a treeless state. While naturally not occurring in rainforests, fire can play an increasing role once the forest is damaged, thinned or completely lost, up to a status where fire is the dominating driver of the ecosystem.
Read More
New series of talks by the Federal President on transformation opens with Ottmar Edenhofer
07/11/2023 - At the start of a new series of talks at Bellevue Palace, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier discussed ways to achieve climate neutrality with PIK Director Ottmar Edenhofer and Christine Benner, the Second Chair of IG Metall. The "Forum Bellevue on the Transformation of Society" focuses on social issues of the future, profound upheavals and changes in Germany.
Read More
Ricarda Winkelmann appointed Max Planck founding director in Jena
07/07/2023 - PIK researcher Ricarda Winkelmann has been appointed founding director at the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology in Jena, dedicated to understanding the interactions between humans and the Earth system. Winkelmann will take up her full-time position there in a few months time. She will remain affiliated with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).
Read More
Six decades and more than 1600 regions worldwide: New database on economic development and climate change
07/03/2023 - A new Database Of Sub-national Economic Output (DOSE) for the first time provides sub-national economic data for six decades and more than 1600 regions worldwide matched with climate observations. Developed by experts of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) the database aims to o better understand the implications of global warming on regional economic development and the true costs of climate change.
Read More
Worse than diesel and gasoline? Bioenergy as bad as fossils if there is no pricing of CO2 emissions from land-use change
06/26/2023 - Demand for modern biofuels is expected to grow substantially in order to mitigate climate emissions. However, they are far from being a climate neutral alternative to gasoline and diesel. A new study in Nature Climate Change shows that under current land-use regulations, CO2 emission factors for biofuels might even exceed those for fossil diesel combustion due to large-scale land clearing related to growing biomass. Before bioenergy can effectively contribute to achieving carbon neutrality, international agreements need to ensure the effective protection of forests and other natural lands by introducing carbon pricing, the expert team from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) argues.
Read More
EU climate Advisory Board recommends ambitious 2040 climate target and urgent transitions
06/23/2023 - The European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC), established by the European Climate Law, recommends in a new report EU emission reductions of 90–95% by 2040, relative to 1990, grounded on a science-based assessment addressing both fairness and feasibility.
Read More
Women’s diet quality in India could be improved by forest foods
06/22/2023 - Wild foods from forests and common land play an important role in improving the quality of diets among Indian women, a new study finds. The harvest of wild, nutritious food, especially during June and July, is of vital importance to vulnerable women in India, where more than 80 percent are estimated to be micronutrient deficient and suffer from poor health.
Read More
Greentech Honorary Award for Johan Rockström
06/21/2023 - Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research PIK, has been awarded the "Special Achievement Award" by the Greentech Festival. The Earth system scientist received the honour for his commitment and leadership in his field.
Read More
Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities appoints Ottmar Edenhofer
06/19/2023 - Climate economist Ottmar Edenhofer has been appointed to the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW). The Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change was admitted to the academy during Leibniz Day 2023 in recognition of his outstanding scientific achievements.
Read More
From caves to soy schnitzel: PIK at Long Night of Science 2023
06/05/2023 - Lectures, information booths, hands-on experiments: Interested visitors can find out how stalactite caves and soy schnitzel are connected to the climate at this year's Long Night of Science on June 17, 2023 at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). Researchers at the institute will be answering questions about the energy transition and climate neutrality, climate impacts in Germany, stalactites as climate archives, and what role nutrition will play in the future, among other things. They also invite you to learn more about their research.
Read More
A just world on a safe planet: First study quantifying Earth System Boundaries
05/31/2023 - Humans are taking colossal risks with the future of civilization and everything that lives on Earth, a new study published in the journal Nature shows. Developed by an international science commission engaging more than 40 researchers from across the globe, the scientists deliver the first quantification of safe and just Earth system boundaries on a global and local level for several biophysical processes and systems that regulate the state of the Earth system. For the first time, safety and justice for humanity on Earth is assessed and quantified for the same control variables regulating life support and Earth stability. Justice, assessed based on avoiding significant harm to people across the world, leads to more stringent Earth system boundaries. This is extremely challenging, as the Earth Commission concludes that numerous of the safe boundaries are already crossed today.
Read More
PIK expertise at "Leibniz in the Bundestag"
05/26/2023 - From hydrogen to the EU climate goals, from moorland protection to the animal welfare tax: researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) were represented across all research areas with numerous topics at "Leibniz in the Bundestag". With this political format, the Leibniz Association annually offers members of the German Bundestag one-on-one discussions with scientists.
Read More
New framework from “Efficiency first” to “Decarbonization first” in European building sector needed
05/25/2023 - In addition to costly renovations, many inexpensive measures exist to facilitate the diffusion of renewables in the building sector. As of 2019, buildings were responsible for about a third of European GHG emissions. A key objective of EU energy use policies to reduce these emissions should therefore be focused on the decarbonization of buildings, beyond merely decreasing energy demand. This is stated in a new Commentary published in the journal Joule by a team of researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE).
Read More
Climate change risk to price stability: Higher average temperatures increase inflation
05/24/2023 - Increased average temperatures could drive up annual food and headline inflation by up to 1.18 percent by 2035, a new ECB working paper with PIK expertise shows. This effect persists over 12 months in rich and poor countries alike, making climate change an important economic factor for price stability.
Read More
