The Climate Change Center Berlin Brandenburg envisions itself as a transdisciplinary center for research and knowledge transfer. Together with representatives from politics, business, and civil society, we are working to deliver the climate targets defined in the Paris Agreement.
Rethinking climate research—with knowledge transfer and a change of perspective
The risks of exceeding planetary boundaries have already been probed scientifically for decades. But there is still a dearth of the kind of comprehensive research and innovation that is needed to develop systematic solutions to protect our planet and respond to the challenges our global society faces and deliver these solutions at regional level. The Climate Change Center Berlin Brandenburg intends to play a key role in addressing this gap. This research and knowledge transfer network will be supported by a new Einstein Center working on climate change that will also facilitate more intense collaborative work with leading international universities. Funding for a two-year preparation module for this center was approved by Einstein Foundation Berlin in November 2021.
Green Consumption Assistant: More sustainable shopping thanks to AI
Pflanze KlimaKultur!
The collaborative citizen science project “Pflanze KlimaKultur!” (English: Plant Climate-Culture!) brings together scientists from the Botanic Garden Berlin (Freie Universität Berlin) and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, teams from the universities in Jena, Halle, and Leipzig, as well as citizens of these four cities who wish to investigate the influence of climate change on the growth stages of plants.
Transmedial Storytelling: Camilla Plastic Ocean Plan
Professor Angelica Böhm, Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, became aware of the phenomenon of “garbage patches” through her students in 2015. The immense plastic pollution of the oceans as an example of the manifold destructions of nature is in the focus of the young generation in particular.
PONDERFUL: POND Ecosystems for Resilient FUture Landscapes in a changing climate
The name says it all, given that the project is all about pond ecosystems. Studies suggest that, because of their abundance, heterogeneity, biodiversity and biogeochemical potency, ponds play an important role in mitigating the impacts of climate change.
Sustainable management of global commons
The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research is modeling sustainable transformation pathways to identify the best strategies for global climate protection and sustainable management of the global commons within planetary boundaries.
New mobility Berlin - advancing sustainable mobility together
The NEUE MOBILITÄT BERLIN (NMB) project consortium under the lead of Zentrum Technik und Gesellschaft/TU Berlin has been developing constructive answers to the question of how we as city dwellers want to be out and about in our neighborhoods in the future. The transdisciplinary research and practice project develop approaches to promote more sustainable and climate-protecting forms of local mobility together with stakeholders and civil society.
Food System Transitions – climate friendly and inclusive
Sustainable charging on the TU Berlin campus
Could old lithium-ion batteries be given a second life storing energy for e-bikes on the TU campus? A team of researchers at TU Berlin are working on just that in the sustainability project “Select.” Their solar-powered e-bike station serves more than research, though; it is also a climate-neutral transport solution for getting students from A to B.
The arts as partners and drivers of change
Transformative processes triggered by climate change involve more than simple adaptation—they require a fundamental rethinking of issues from society. Berlin University of the Arts is searching for new ways to engage citizens in dialog about innovation, the untapped potential of the bioeconomy, and its risks.
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Understanding threatened ecosystems better with biodiversity research
A simulator for the Earth's planetary boundaries
When will the Earth system reach the limits of its resilience? Under what circumstances will protecting the global commons become impossible? Researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research simulate and analyze planetary boundaries.
The climate crisis and heat stress: effects on health and work capacity
The bounds of the possible in climate policy
The Kopernikus project Ariadne is concerned with gaining a better understanding of which policy instruments are necessary and suitable for achieving the goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. The participating researchers at the University of Potsdam are working on issues including the macroeconomic modeling of the energy transition.
The model region Berlin-Brandenburg
Current climatic changes are creating complex challenges for both urban and rural regions. Weather extremes like heatwaves, droughts and heavy rain are already occurring more frequently in Berlin and Brandenburg and leaving their mark on the region. The coal exit and the structural change this has brought about in Lusatia (the coal region south of Berlin) represent a major undertaking for the wider region. What specific measures can be delivered in the near future to shape climate change mitigation and adaption in the region ecologically, socially, and economically?
The research and science scene in Berlin and Brandenburg is ideally positioned to embark on a systematic interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary analysis of climate change.
In CCC, the Climate Change Center, a joint initiative has now emerged to mobilize the vast knowledge and wide-ranging solution-oriented expertise of participating institutions.
Universities
The Climate Change Center pursues an integrated and solution-oriented approach to transformation research with innovation as the central cross-cutting theme.
The four major competence fields —Society, Technology, Nature, Urban and Rural— serve to combine the research expertise of the participating institutions effectively. Researchers in Berlin and Brandenburg have developed a solutions triangle in a multi-step collaborative process to facilitate future interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research.
For further information please click on the respective solution field.
Initial interdisciplinary research projects are already being realized during the two-year preparation phase leading up to the establishment of the Einstein Center Climate Change and Public Policy of Human Settlement (ECCC). This work is flanked by transdisciplinary discourse and events in formats such as stakeholder dialogues.
Climate change and artificial intelligence Berlin Brandenburg
Heat & Health - Building future-proof hospitals
Responding to Crisis: Interventions for sustainable futures
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Funding
Pilot projects will be developed at the levels of climate governance, transformation pathways, and tools for the areas of construction and transportation in the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan region in 2022/2023 with funding from Einstein Foundation Berlin. The objective here will be to harness existing strengths in the fields of big data and artificial intelligence for innovative climate research and to draw on the power of experimental approaches in design, psychology and art to advance processes of technological and social transformation.
The State of Berlin
The Climate Change Center Berlin Brandenburg was supported in 2021 by funding from the Berlin Quality and Innovation Offensive (QIO) via the Berlin Senate Department for Higher Education and Research. It will be supported by funds from the Senate Department responsible for research in 2022/2023. Berlin’s state government has pledged the necessary funds for establishing the Climate Change Center Berlin Brandenburg in its current coalition agreement.
Berlin University Alliance
1 November 2019 saw the start of the Berlin University Alliance of Excellence made up of FU Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, TU Berlin and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. It is supporting the initial phase of the CCC with project funding, public relations work and marketing.
Transdisciplinary experts database
In spring 2022, we intend to launch the beta phase of an open-access database that sets out to enhance the visibility of and foster closer networking between experts from research, civil society, politics, business, and the arts on the topics of climate change, climate mitigation and climate adaptation in the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan region. The first step toward this database involves registering research partners and people in participating institutions. The database will be publicly available for searches.
Would you like to discover more about our initiative by keeping up to date? Register here!
Contact
Dr. Anita Dame
Managing director
T +49 (0)30 314-22394
M anita.dame@tu-berlin.de
Michael Wilmes
Head of strategic projects
T +49 (0)30 314-22131
M michael.wilmes@tu-berlin.de
Research Coordinator Climate Change Center Berlin Brandenburg
