Important Step Forward for Climate Research
Einstein Foundation Berlin supporting preparation module for new Einstein Center Climate Change Einstein Centers offer eminent Berlin-based collaborative research platforms the opportunity to establish cross-institutional research and teaching networks.
Thanks to the Einstein Foundation Berlin's approval of a preparation module, the Climate Change Center Berlin Brandenburg (CCC) is now ready to launch a full application to become an Einstein Center.
Backed by 600,000 euros of funding over two years, the module is intended to promote pilot projects in the fields of climate governance, transformation pathways, and tools for the construction and transport sectors in the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan area. In particular, the aim is to support climate research that makes innovative use of the area's strengths in big data and artificial intelligence while also fostering technological and social transformation processes that draw on experimental approaches from design, psychology, and art.
"In the climate crisis, there is an urgent need for solutions that can be developed and implemented locally, with urban and rural areas both playing a key role. The establishment of a new Einstein Center Climate Change and Public Policy of Human Settlements (ECCC) will allow them to more effectively harness the research strengths of the Berlin-Brandenburg region and enable these to be applied directly to real-world projects", says Professor Felix Creutzig of Technische Universität Berlin and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change. He is one of two speakers for the initiative promoting the proposed new Einstein Center, the other being Professor Ottmar Edenhofer, his TU colleague and the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
"The Berlin-Brandenburg region is uniquely qualified to contribute solutions in many areas of climate protection and adaptation. It is a place where new ideas can be piloted and, thanks to its concentration of specialist know-how, research expertise, and exemplary citizen engagement, made accessible to all", asserts TU president Professor Christian Thomsen, who, working closely with the University of Potsdam and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, initiated the research network in conjunction with Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Berlin University of the Arts.
The Einstein Foundation Berlin's funding of the preparation module aims to bolster the Climate Change Center Berlin Brandenburg's regional research and knowledge transfer network and to facilitate deeper collaboration with world-leading universities such as Princeton and Columbia in the United States, the University of Cambridge in the UK, and Israel's Hebrew University of Jerusalem. With the aid of this regional and international network, the new Einstein Center will focus on climate solutions that can be put into practice now and make a real-world contribution to the Berlin-Brandenburg region's transition to climate neutrality, while also benefiting other cities and regions around the world.
The Climate Change Center Berlin Brandenburg is a transdisciplinary research and knowledge transfer hub. Since 2020, the CCC has been working with research partners and political, business, and civil society actors to develop climate solutions for the Berlin-Brandenburg region. Its research is focused on two key areas: artificial intelligence and climate change, in which applied climate change research is allied to digital expertise and machine learning tools, and sustainable construction, health, and green infrastructure.