Headline: News 2013

<p><em>“Reducing Short-Lived Climate-forcing Pollutants in the Himalaya region would be beneficial for hundreds of millions of citizens in the region, depending on the Himalaya for water, food production and hydropower”</em>, stated IASS Director <a href="/node/182">Prof. Mark Lawrence</a> in Warsaw, Poland, at the Side Event “Short-Lived Climate Pollutants in South Asia: Current Scientific knowledge and ways forward to develop tailored policy recommendations”.</p>

<p>As part of the annual conference of the CLUB OF ROME schools network, climate researcher Professor Mojib Latif (Deutsche Gesellschaft Club of Rome and IfM GEOMAR) and physicist Dr Thomas Bruhn (Think Tank 30 and IASS Potsdam) presented seven critical key questions about climate engineering (CE). The paper was jointly prepared by the <a href="http://www.clubofrome.de/" target="_blank">Deutsche Gesellschaft CLUB OF ROME</a> and the <a href="http://www.tt30.de/" target="_blank">Think Tank 30</a>.</p>

<p>For their <a href="http://gsss-potsdam.org/" target="_blank">Global Sustainability Summer School 2012</a>, IASS Potsdam and the <a href="http://www.pik-potsdam.de/" target="_blank">Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)</a> won the <a href="http://www.wis-potsdam.de/de/kongresspreis-2013" target="_blank">Congress Award</a> in the category "innovative and/or unusual events” on 14 November. The award was presented by Potsdam’s Mayor Jann Jacobs.</p>

<p>At the moment, every single German causes around 11 tons of CO₂ emissions per year. However, in order to stabilise the climatic conditions on Earth, each person should not cause more than 2.5 tons of CO₂ emissions. The current emissions are thus four times as high as scientists recommend in order to prevent global warming of more than 2 degrees compared to pre-industrial levels.</p>

<p>Climate and environmental protection are becoming increasingly important: Sustainable lifestyles, reducing CO₂ in the atmosphere and the energy transition are all decisive aspects affecting the future. As a result the green economy is growing and new jobs are being created that require committed and well educated new recruits.  The fact that green jobs are the future is shown by Germany’s national “Green Day – Schools check out green jobs” on the 12^th of November 2013.</p>

<p>The Founding and Executive Director of IASS Potsdam, Professor Klaus Töpfer, was awarded the Hans Carl von Carlowitz Sustainability Award on 6 November. The award ceremony took place as part of the “People Shape Sustainability” event in the Opera House of Chemnitz.</p>

<p>The University of Potsdam appointed PD Dr. Mark Lawrence as an Honorary Professor as part of the festivities surrounding the Day of the Mathematics and Natural Science Faculty on November 6, 2013.</p><p>Mark Lawrence has been Scientific Director of the IASS’ research cluster “Sustainable Interactions with the Atmosphere“ since October 2011. He has also been teaching a course on “Atmospheric Science in the Context of Global Change” at the University of Potsdam since the winter semester 2013/2014.</p>

<p>On the occasion of the <a href="http://globalsoilweek.org/" target="_blank">Global Soil 2013</a>, Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director of the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) and Maria Betti, Director of the <a href="http://ies.jrc.ec.europa.eu/" target="_blank">Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES)</a> of the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/jrc/" target="_blank">European Commission</a>, signed a 5-year Collaboration Agreement that aims to foster the cooperation of the two institutes in the field of sustainable soil management.</p>

<p>European partners to the <a href="http://www.fao.org/globalsoilpartnership/en/" target="_blank">Global Soil Partnership</a>, an initiative of the <a href="http://www.fao.org/home/en/" target="_blank">FAO</a> (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), met at the <a href="http://globalsoilweek.org/gsw-2013/" target="_blank">Global Soil Week 2013</a> in Berlin and decided to establish a European Regional Soil Partnership.</p>