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Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

At PIK, researchers in the natural and social sciences from all over the world work closely together to study global change and its impacts on ecological, economic and social systems. Researchers examine the earth system’s capacity for withstanding human interventions and devise strategies and options for a sustainable development of humankind and nature. Interdisciplinary and solution-oriented approaches are a distinctive characteristic of the institute.

Research at PIK is organized in four Research Domains: Earth System Analysis, Climate Impacts and Vulnerabilities, Sustainable Solutions and Transdisciplinary Concepts & Methods.

Understanding climate change and its impacts is a huge task that no institution or country can tackle alone. PIK is part of a global network of scientific and academic institutions working on questions of global environmental change. PIK plays an active role in activities such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), also known as the world´s climate council, whose working group on the mitigation of climate change is coordinated by PIK researchers. PIK initiated and has co-hosted the biennial Nobel Laureate Symposium on questions of global sustainability since 2007.

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The 1.5°C global warming limit is not impossible – but without political action it soon will be

Humanity can still limit global warming to 1.5°C this century. But political action will determine whether it actually does. Conflating the two questions amounts to dangerous, misplaced punditry.
Indonesian residents wade through flood water near the Ciliwung river in Jakarta in February 2018. Our emissions in the near future will lock in sea level rise over centuries.

Our shameful legacy: just 15 years’ worth of emissions will raise sea level in 2300

New research confirms that what the world pumps into the atmosphere today has grave long-term consequences. Governments - especially Australia’s - must urgently ramp up efforts to reduce emissions.
The Arc de Triomphe Is illuminated in green to celebrate the Paris Agreement’s entry into force. U.S. Department of State from United States

Will the Paris Agreement still be able to deliver after the US withdrawal?

Like president George W. Bush before him, Donald Trump made the announcement from the White House Rose Garden, showing that Republican governments have failed to learn past lessons.
We’ve come a long way since the agreement was formed in 2015. Stephane Mahe/Reuters

Paris climate agreement enters into force: international experts respond

Experts agree that a new era for climate policy here. But the hard work starts now.

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