2012 — Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

World Bank report warns of climate change disaster

The report by PIK is a snapshot of the latest climate science prepared for the World Bank. The world is barreling down a path to heat up by four degrees at the end of the century if the global community fails to act on climate change, the World Bank said Sunday. Source: Xinhua, 19.11.2012.

The latest predictions on climate change should shock us into action

PIK produced a report commissioned by World Bank Group to help understand the science and the potential impact on good economic development of a 4C increase. A world four degrees warmer could be too hot to handle, but the exciting prospect of low-carbon living could stop it happening. Source: The Guardian, 19.11.2012.

World Bank Climate Change Report Says 'Turn Down The Heat' On Warming Planet

Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of PIK, which along with Climate Analytics prepared the report for the World Bank, says on the dynamics of climate change: "If you look at all these things together, like organs cooperating in a human body, you can think about acceleration of this dilemma." Source: Huffington Post, 18.11.2012.

World Bank report warns of climate change disaster

PIK Director Hans Joachim Schellnhuber says "if we venture far beyond the two degrees guardrail, toward the four degrees line, the risk of crossing tipping points rises sharply. The only way to avoid this is to break the business-as-usual pattern of production and consumption." The report is a snapshot of the latest climate science prepared for the World Bank by PIK and Climate Analytics. Source: CCTV, 18.11.2012

Monsoon may fail more often due to climate change

PIK scientist Anders Levermann, a professor of dynamics of the climate system, tells Reuters ‘Monsoon failure becomes much more frequent’ as temperatures rise. The Indian monsoon is likely to fail more often in the next 200 years threatening food supplies, unless governments agree how to limit climate change, a study showed. Source: Khaleej Times, 06.11.2012

Hurricane Sandy influenced by global warming, climate scientist says

PIK scientist Dim Coumou, an earth systems analyst, says Anthropogenic climate change has contributed to sea surface warming, influencing the intensity of storms like Hurricane Sandy. Source: EurActiv, 31.10.2012.

Video: When The Ice Melts - The Challenge of Global Warming

PIK scientist Stefan Rahmstorf was a guest in the talk show "Agenda" on Deutsche Welle TV. Starting with the fact that more Arctic sea ice has melted this summer than ever before since records began he explains why the Arctic may soon be ice-free. He also talks about why it is so difficult to make the world understand what is happening. Source: DW TV, 11.09.2012

Most Coral Reefs at Risk

Coral reefs face severe challenges even if global warming is restricted to the 2 degrees Celsius commonly perceived as safe for many natural and human-made systems. Fars News Agency in Tehran writes about a study by PIK scientist Katja Frieler. Source: FNA, 17.09.2012

Chance of saving coral reefs is dwindling: study

Coral reefs are home to almost a quarter of the world's ocean species, they provide coastal protection and can support tourism and fishing industries for millions of people worldwide. The China Post writes about a study by PIK scientist Katja Frieler. Source: The China Post, 18.09.2012

Climate Change: Coral Reefs Expected To Suffer Greatly, Study Finds

The chance to save the world's coral reefs from damage caused by climate change is dwindling as man-made greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, PIK scientist Katja Frieler and her team say. Source: Huffington Post, 16.09.2012

Hot enough for you?

With an El Niño on the way, 2013 could be the warmest year on record. But the climate-denial machine will keep on churning warns Stefan Rahmstorf, who heads the Earth System Analysis department at PIK. Source: NewScientist, 03.09.2012.

Record heat, derecho storm: Does global warming get blame?

What's up with the U.S. weather this year, a warm winter, early droughts and a multistate "derecho" windstorm before July? - ABCNews explores the connection between extrem weather events and global warming, referring to a perspective piece by PIK scientists Stefan Rahmstorf and Dim Coumou in Nature Climate Change. ABCNews, 07.07.2012

A First Step

At the end of the Rio+20 summit, PIK-director Hans Joachim Schellnhuber predicts the next decade to become 'the decade of the social sciences'. They are much needed to integrate scientific knowledge of natural systems with economics and social sciences to better assess the solutions that people will be willing to accept. The Rio+20 summit successfully analyzed past failures but lacked visionary thoughts and ideas about how to break the political deadlock. Source: Nature, 27.06.12