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PIK in the Media (Link collection)

Op-Ed: Coal phase-out is a 'no-regret' plan

Carbonbrief.org (UK) - Sebastian Rauner, PhD candidate at the Potsdam-Institute for Climate Impact Research, explains in his guest post how phasing out coal not only could have positive effects on the climate but also on public health and biodiversity. Referring to a recent publication by Rauner and colleagues in Nature Climate Change, he argues the coal phase-out could be a 'no-regret' strategy. Source: carbonbrief.org (UK), 21.04.2020

Op-Ed: Emergence from emergency

Euractiv.com (BEL) - Together with Sandrine Dixson-Declève, co-president of The Club of Rome and co-founder of The Planetary Emergency Partnership, PIK's director Johan Rockström wrote an open letter to EU heads of states and governments, as well as to the presidents of EU institutions. In this letter they remind readers that like COVID-19, climate change, biodiversity loss, and financial collapse do not observe national or even physical borders. As cross-cutting challenges they can be managed only through collective action. Source: Euractiv.com (BEL), 24.03.2020

Swedish Radio show "Winter in P1" with Johan Rockström

Sveriges Radio (SWE) - Johan Rockström was invited to lead through the well known Swedish radio show "Winter in P1". Over 90 minutes the Director of PIK looks back on past years in climate science and politics and shares his views on the world's future with climate change impacts. For Rockström 2020 will be the year of the moment of truth. The show is in English. Source: Sveriges Radio (SWE), 01.01.2020

Lifestyle emissions of the rich and famous

nytimes.com (USA) - The Climate Fwd: newsletter provides their readers once a week with stories and insights about climate change. This time it presents the study "Shift the focus from the super-poor to the super-rich" from PIK-researchers Ilona Otto and Wolfgang Lucht, among others: Carbon mitigation efforts often focus on the world’s poorest people, dealing with topics such as food and energy security, and increased emissions potential from projected population, income and consumption growth. However, more policies are needed that target people at the opposite end of the social ladder — the super-rich. Source: nytimes.com / Climate Fwd: (USA), 13.11.2019

Antarctica and sea-level rise: "The apparent absurdity of the endeavour"

CBC Radio (CAN) - As It Happens guest host Megan Williams of CBC Radio in Canada discusses with Anders Levermann the apparent absurdity of the endeavour to let it snow in Antarctica to stop ice instability, reflecting the breath-taking dimension of the sea-level problem. Source: CBC Radio (Canada), 23.07.2019

Op-ed: Three steps to meeting the climate and nature emergency

The Telegraph (UK) - In the light of increasing demands to declare climate and natural emergencies, Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, examines their justification on the basis of the latest scientific findings on the state of the Earth's climate and biodiversity. Source: The Telegraph (UK), 16.07.2019

Op-ed: Individuals can’t solve the climate crisis. Governments need to step up

The Guardian (UK) - In his op-ed in The Guardian Anders Levermann, head of PIK research department Complexity Science at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, outlines how reaching zero emissions requires very fundamental changes and can be achieved only by real structural change. He stresses the importance of Goverments' action instead of them shifting the responsibility of solving global tasks as the climate crisis to the individual. Source: The Guardian (UK), 10.07.2019

"Il y aura plus de pluies extrêmes à cause du changement climatique"

Libération (France) - India is experiencing an unusually heavy monsoon this summer. In the southern Indian state Kerala, the massive rainfalls have already caused the death of more than 410 persons and lead to the displacement of over one million people. In an interview with the major French newspaper Libération, scientist Jacob Schewe from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) explains how human-made global warming could play a role in this catastrophe. Source: Libération (France), 21.08.2018. Article in French.

"Much of the Northern hemisphere has experienced an unusually hot summer"

BBC (UK) - Heat waves, droughts, wildfires and floods are extreme weather events with substantial risks for our health. In a comprehensive review of available scientific findings, researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) now analyzed the stalling of weather conditions in the summer in the Northern Hemisphere. They focused on the influence of the disproportionally strong warming of the Arctic as caused by greenhouse-gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. Dim Coumou was lead author of the new study and speaks on BBC about the results (from minute 49:31). Surce: BBC (UK), 20.08.2018.

"World is finally waking up to climate change"

The Guardian (UK) - Short ago and unforeseenly at the peak of the heat wave in the Northern hemisphere, a new major scientific paper on "Trajectories of the Earth System In the Anthropocene" was released - highlighting the risk of heading of the planet towards an irreversible "Hothouse Earth" state. PIK-director John Schellnhuber and other scientists from his institute contributed substantially to the paper. The report already has been downloaded over 270.000 times. "I think that in future people will look back on 2018 as the year when climate reality hit," said Schellnhuber. "This is the moment when people start to realise that global warming is not a problem for future generations, but for us now." Source: The Guardian (UK), 19.08.2018.

"How to design carbon taxes"

The Economist (UK) - Carbon pricing could be a central measure to meet global climate targets and limit global warming to well below 2°C until the end of the century. But prices for greenhouse gas emissions could unfold further substantial benefits especially for people who still don't have appropriate access to health care, clean water and education: the generated financial resources could help significantly in the success of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) finds. The major British business magazine The Economist included PIK's new scientific findings in its article about the design of carbon taxes. Source: The Economist (UK), 18.08.2018.

"Europe's freak weather, explained"

Politico (EU) - "We’ve all become increasingly used to reports of extreme weather over the past few years. But this summer’s raft of dramatic weather events is significant: Not only does it show what warming can do, it points to the potential large-scale trouble that lurks in the disruption of the planet’s winds and ocean currents", writes PIK-scientist Stefan Rahmstorf in his guest contribution in the European magazine Politico. "The reality of global warming is catching up with us fast, and no longer an issue for future generations. We will need to prepare for more unpleasant surprises in the coming years, and we need to urgently cut down emissions to prevent further destabilizing our climate system." Source: Politico (EU), 16.08.2018.

"How many more will have to die as Asia gets hotter?"

SCMP (Hong Kong) - "Record temperatures have claimed thousands of lives and caused droughts and floods across the continent in recent months, and the forecast is not cool", introduces the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post its recent article about extreme weather in Asia. Last year, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) released their report "A Region at Risk: The Human Dimensions of Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific." PIK-scientist Kira Vinke now said: "All the great work done in the Asia-Pacific region in the last decades lifting millions of people out of poverty is now being threatened by climate change." Source: South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), 11.08.2018.

"Earth at risk of becoming 'hothouse' if tipping point reached"

CNN (USA) - A new study with involvement of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) shows: the Earth is at risk of heading towards an irreversible "Hothouse" state. The scientists analyzed several points of no return: "These tipping elements can potentially act like a row of dominoes. Once one is pushed over, it pushes Earth towards another. [...] Places on Earth will become uninhabitable if 'Hothouse Earth' becomes the reality", said the designated PIK-director Johan Rockström. Source: CNN International (USA), 07.08.2018.

"Earth risks tipping into 'hothouse' state: study"

The Independent (Bangladesh) - An international team of scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and other renowned institutions discovered: even if the CO2 emission reductions negotiated in the Paris Agreement are achieved, the planet risks entering conditions what the scientists call "Hothouse Earth". A cascade of points of no return "may tip the entire Earth system into a new mode of operation," said PIK-director John Schellnhuber. Source: The Independent (Bangladesh), 07.08.2018.

"Terra corre risco de entrar em 'efeito estufa' irreversível"

UOL (Brazil) - By analyzing natural feedback processes, scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and other international institutions showed that Earth is at risk entering an irreversible "hothouse" state. Chances of avoiding this requires not only the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions but also measures like improved forest, agricultural and soil management, biodiversity conservation and technologies that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the new study says. Source: UOL (Brazil), 07.08.2018. Article in Portugese.

"Vers des canicules de plus en plus fréquentes"

France24 (France) - The current extraordinary heat in the entire northern hemisphere is highly unusual. At the same time the last three years have been the warmest globally since weather records began. Scientists like Anders Levermann from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) expect such extreme episodes likelier to occur in the future without a rapid reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Source: France24 (France) with Agence France Presse (AFP), 26.07.2018. Article in French.

"How a carbon tax could fight poverty and climate change at the same time"

Anthropocene Magazine (International) - Prices for the emission of greenhouse gases like CO2 would not only be a stimulus for the withdrawal from the burning of fossil fuels. It could also make substantial financial resources available for succeeding the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a new study with involvement of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) finds. "If you look at both climate and sustainable development policies at the same time, it turns out that carbon pricing could indeed address both problems simultaneously and effectively", says lead author Max Franks from PIK. Source: Anthropocene Magazine (International), 24.07.2018.

"Climate change will affect our food production"

Sustainable Transitions Blog (Germany) - How do our diets affect climate change? How will our changing diets affect the climate in the future? What is food waste and how do you measure it? Where do people waste the most food? What is a yield gap? Why does it matter in the context of climate change? These questions and more are answered in this 32 minute interview by PIK-scientist Prajal Pradhan. Source: Sustainable Transitions Blog (Germany), 20.07.2018.

"Will extreme weather become even deadlier?"

Deutsche Welle (Germany) - "Our Earth is once again being hit by extreme weather, including extreme heat and wildfires in California, and devastating floods of rain in Japan. Based on the laws of physics, due to global warming, we must expect more frequent and worsening events", says the renowned scientist Stefan Rahmstorf from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in a statement. "This trend can only be halted if the Paris Agreement for stabilizing our climate is rapidly and fully implemented", he adds. Source: Deutsche Welle (Germany), 12.07.2018.