BMBF Projects on the Economics of Climate Change Launched at ZEW
Energy Transition and Climate Change
The Paris climate agreement has set ambitious goals: 197 contractual parties have agreed to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degree Celsius, to improve their adaptability to climate change and to reconcile financial flows with a low-emission and climate-resilient economic and social development. But how can these goals be achieved in an economically and ecologically effective and sustainable way? Since the beginning of the year, a ZEW team has been part of a total of seven collaborative projects involving several research partners within the framework of Phase II of the BMBF funding priority “Economics of Climate Change”.
In this funding priority, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding a total of 29 research projects until 2022. Environmental economic research focussing on climate change develops answers to economic questions which emerge from climate change and its effects. In seven joint projects with a total of 16 scientific partners from different research institutions, ZEW economists are developing practical solutions to the economic significance of climate change on the basis of policy-relevant research.
Climate change and energy transition: Key topics of environmental economic research at ZEW
ZEW President Professor Achim Wambach stresses the importance of the recently launched research projects: “We are pleased that our research projects met with great approval from the BMBF and will be funded over the next three years. This is a testament to the outstanding commitment of the ZEW team. These projects open up excellent opportunities for our doctoral and postdoctoral students and, at the same time, challenge them to regularly contribute their results to the political and social debate.” Professor Martin Kesternich, deputy head of the ZEW Research Department “Environmental and Resource Economics, Environmental Management”, adds: “The involvement in the funding priority not only offers the opportunity to expand our networks in research and policy advising in a targeted manner, but also underlines the importance of environmental economics with a particular focus on climate change and energy transition as a key topic at ZEW.”
