Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) advances interdisciplinary climate-impact research to support global sustainability and a safe, just climate future. As a member of the Leibniz Association, PIK combines natural and social sciences to assess climate risks and develop evidence-based pathways for mitigation and adaptation.
PIK’s structure comprises four main research departments and seven FutureLabs. Research Department 1 (Earth System Analysis) examines physical and biogeochemical Earth-system processes, planetary boundaries, tipping points, land-use change and sustainable energy systems. Research Department 3 (Transformation Pathways) integrates impact projections, such as ISIMIP, with socioeconomic models like REMIND and MAgPIE, exploring energy-transition scenarios, migration, security and climate impacts. Research Department 4 (Complexity Science) focuses on machine learning, non-linear methods, extreme phenomena and decision-making in climate contexts. Since early 2025, the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change has been integrated as Research Department 5, bringing expertise in climate economics, global commons and policy-relevant research.
PIK supports policy-makers through evidence-based advice, maintaining a science-policy interface that informs strategies across scales. It supplies tools such as the living systematic map of climate-policy studies and the DOSE database, which links sub-national economic data with climate indicators for over 1,600 regions globally.
Connections to sustainable finance are embedded in FutureLabs, particularly the Public Economics and Climate Finance lab, which examines the economics of global commons and reconciles short-term well-being with long-term environmental sustainability.
PIK also produces high-impact outputs such as tipping-points assessments and Planetary Boundaries analyses, and provides a rich Info Desk of accessible, topic-specific resources supporting broader understanding of climate science.
