Prof. Dr. Matthias Kalkuhl

Prof. Matthias Kalkuhl heads the Research Department 5 (RD5) "Climate Economics and Policy/MCC Berlin" and the working group "Welfare and Policy Design". He is also Professor of Economic Growth, Climate Change, and Development at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Potsdam. His research areas include CO₂ pricing and other climate policy measures, distribution and tax policy analyses, and models for financing global public goods such as climate protection and biodiversity.

He worked as a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research from 2008 to 2012, received his doctorate from the Technical University of Berlin in 2012, and then worked as a project manager at the Center for Development Research at the University of Bonn. From 2015 to 2023, he worked at MCC Berlin as a working group leader, and from 2024 as co-director of MCC Berlin. Since 2025, he has been head of RD5 at PIK. He is also a member of the scientific advisory board of the Federal Agency for Civic Education.

Aktuelle Medienbeiträge

• Interview im Deutschlandfunk zur Bedeutung von CO2-Preisen, Förderprogrammen und Investitionsabgaben für Effizienz und Akzeptanz der Klimapolitik (23. Februar 2026)
• Gastbeitrag in der FAZ: Ist Homeoffice gut für die Umwelt? (26. Januar 2026)

Current policy-relevant work

• EU-China Import Coalition: EU-China Import Coalition: How the EU and China can raise €66 billion per year for international climate finance and reduce global emissions by 1 Gt CO₂ in their own interests
  • Working Paper (PIK Format |  Kiel Working Paper)
• Geopolitical co-benefits of reducing European demand for oil: Every €100 million saved on oil imports reduces the geopolitical costs (aid to Ukraine, military spending) for the EU by around €35 million.
  • Working Paper on quantifying the costs of European oil consumption for the EU due to the Russia-Ukraine war
  • Policy Brief (in German)
• Statement on the Climate Protection Act for the Federal Constitutional Court: 

Economic justification of national climate targets and governance aspects of implementation (PIK News |  Statement (in German))

• The green-gold debt rule (Link in German)
  Government debt for climate protection should be linked to actual emission reductions or CO₂ prices
• The Building Climate Dividend (Link in German)

CO2-Bepreisung ohne finanzielle Härten im Gebäudesektor kann durch zielgenaue Kompensation auch bei sehr hohen Preisen gelingen

• CO2-Entnahme im Emissionshandelssystem
  • Working Paper zur Einführung von 'Clean-up'-Zertifikaten im Emissionshandelssystem
  • Verschriftlichung der Thünen-Lecture zur Bedeutung der CO2-Entnahme
  • Überblicksartikel zur Governance der CO2-Entnahme

Working Papers and Work in Progress

• Pareto-improving climate policy with heterogeneous abatement costs in the building sector (with M. Kellner, N. Kögel and L. Stern)
• Is working from home good for the environment? (with R. Borck and K. Lessmann)
• The social cost of carbon under endogenous civilizational extinction risk (with L. Stern and M. Sureth)
• The Geopolitical Externality of Climate Policy (with T Beaufils, K. Conyngham, M. de Vries, M. Jakob, P. Richter, L. Stern, J. Wanner)

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