Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

About: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research is a facility organization based out in Potsdam, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Climate change & Global warming. The organization has 1519 authors who have published 5098 publications receiving 367023 citations.

The value of bioenergy in low stabilization scenarios: an assessment using REMIND-MAgPIE

Abstract: This study investigates the use of bioenergy for achieving stringent climate stabilization targets and it analyzes the economic drivers behind the choice of bioenergy technologies. We apply the integrated assessment framework REMIND-MAgPIE to show that bioenergy, particularly if combined with carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a crucial mitigation option with high deployment levels and high technology value. If CCS is available, bioenergy is exclusively used with CCS. We find that the ability of bioenergy to provide negative emissions gives rise to a strong nexus between biomass prices and carbon prices. Ambitious climate policy could result in bioenergy prices of 70 $/GJ (or even 430 $/GJ if bioenergy potential is limited to 100 EJ/year), which indicates a strong demand for bioenergy. For low stabilization scenarios with BECCS availability, we find that the carbon value of biomass tends to exceed its pure energy value. Therefore, the driving factor behind investments into bioenergy conversion capacities for electricity and hydrogen production are the revenues generated from negative emissions, rather than from energy production. However, in REMIND modern bioenergy is predominantly used to produce low-carbon fuels, since the transport sector has significantly fewer low-carbon alternatives to biofuels than the power sector. Since negative emissions increase the amount of permissible emissions from fossil fuels, given a climate target, bioenergy acts as a complement to fossils rather than a substitute. This makes the short-term and long-term deployment of fossil fuels dependent on the long-term availability of BECCS.

Interactive Effects of Elevated Carbon Dioxide and Drought on Wheat

Abstract: Atmospheric CO 2 concentration (C a ) continues to rise. An imperative exists, therefore, to elucidate the interactive effects of elevated C a and drought on plant water relations of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). A spring wheat (cv. Yecora Rojo) crop was exposed to ambient (Control: 370 μmol mol -1 ) and free-air CO 2 enrichment (FACE: ambient + 180 μmol mol -1 ) under ample (Wet), and reduced (Dry), water supplies (100 and 50% replacement of evapotranspiration, respectively) over a 2-yr study. Our objective was to characterize and quantify the responses of 26 edaphic, gas exchange, water relations, carbohydrate pool dynamics, growth, and development parameters to rising C a and drought. Increasing C a minimized the deleterious effects of soil-water depletion by increasing drought avoidance (i.e., lower stomatal conductance and transpiration rate, and growth and development of a more robust root system) and drought tolerance (i.e., enhanced osmoregulation and adaptation of tissue) mechanisms, resulting in a 30% reduction in water stress-induced midaftemoon depressions in net assimilation rate. An elevated C a -based increase in daily and seasonal carbon gain resulted in a positive feedback between source capacity (shoots) and sink demand (roots). Devoid of a concomitant rise in global temperature resulting from the rise in C a , improved water relations for a herbaceous, cool-season, annual, C 3 cereal monocot grass (i.e., wheat) are anticipated in a future high-CO 2 world. These findings are applicable to other graminaceous species of a similar function-type as wheat common to temperate zone grassland prairies and savannas, especially under dryland conditions.

From Participation to Partnership in Biodiversity Protection: Experience from Germany and South Africa

Abstract: Losses in biodiversity are becoming alarming. To safeguard what is left means placing priority on the protection of species and habitats. Ideally, this should be a goal in its own right. In practice, people have to see a direct gain. However, participation is by no means guaranteed to ensure adequate safeguard. However, participation as a prelude to partnerships that bind government, agencies, and communities through coordinated funding is much more likely to be successful. In the Cape Floral Kingdom of South Africa, one of the world's 25 "hot-spots," public-private partnerships are regarded as vital. In the Uckermark Lakes Nature Park in northeast Germany the partnership approach is proving the only uncontested way to biodiversity management. This article discusses why partnerships are so essential for the future of biodiversity. It also assesses what difficulties remain in order to ensure cooperative linkages between community gain and ecological enhancement.

Consumption- Versus Production-Based Emission Policies

Abstract: Emission leakage could potentially undermine the effectiveness of unilateral climate policies. Significant emission transfers from developing countries to developed countries in the form of emissions embodied in trade have been interpreted as an indication of such leakage. To reduce leakage and provide an appropriate picture of countries’ responsibility for global emissions, an alternative proposal is to attribute emissions on the basis of consumption instead of production. However, as one unit of imported emissions generally cannot be equated with a corresponding increase in emissions released to the atmosphere, putting a price on emissions embodied in imports equal to the social cost of these emissions (e.g., by means of consumption-based emission pricing) is not an optimal policy. Hence, one should consider a broad scope of trade measures to reduce leakage, focusing on a few highly traded, emission-intensive industries. Finally, the optimal policy portfolio to address leakage may also contain free allo...

Plausible rice yield losses under future climate warming.

Abstract: To explore how climate warming may affect rice yield, a study used field experiments and three modelling approaches to examine the sensitivity of rice yield to warming. The study predicts that severe rice yield losses are likely to occur without effective crop improvement.