Since the beginning of industrialization, the average global temperature has risen by more than 1 °C, and without consistent climate protection measures, it could rise by more than 2 °C in the coming decades. Research uses large data sets, complex climate models, and scenario analyses to quantify impacts such as extreme weather, sea level rise, and greenhouse gas budgets. It also examines technical, social, and political options for action to shape a climate-neutral and resilient future.
The need for climate protection ▸
Earth’s climate was stable for a long time in the past 10,000 years. Since the start of industrialisation, the global average temperature has increased in a short time by more than 1°C due to the burning of fossil fuels and changes to land use. Without intensive climate protection measures the average rise over the next decades could exceed 2°C. Climate research contributes to the knowledge about our changing planet in the form of increasingly accurate climate models and possible solutions.
The consequences of global warming are meanwhile visible and measurable in all regions around the world and present an increasingly high risk for humans. Ice is melting on the polar caps, coral reefs are disappearing from tropical regions, and people everywhere are having to learn to live with growing uncertainty and altered living conditions.
Climate researchers use data from long time series, finely adjusted climate models and powerful supercomputers to deliver increasingly accurate predictions regarding global warming and its consequences. They aim to understand how greenhouse gases and aerosols affect the climate, when irreversible events such as the melting of ice sheets will occur, and how large the remaining emissions budget is for specific climate targets.
The targets set by policymakers are clear: By 2030 greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union (EU) should sink by 55 percent in comparison to 1990; in Germany by 65 percent. By 2050 the EU must achieve net-zero emissions. Germany intends to do this by 2045. Yet simply striving for changes to energy use and consumption of carbon-based fuels in individual areas or regions is not sufficient. The solutions have to be systematic and global in nature – and impact all aspects of life.
