Klimafolgenforschung

Climate Impact Research combines a number of scientific disciplines from natural as well as from economic and social sciences. Integrating methods are developed and used in addition to the various disciplinary ones. New results are produced about climate relevant interactions within an Earth system, which includes human societies. These results point out how to cope with possible negative impacts on societies. That’s not a question of prediction but of perception. It is a question of indicators to perceive critical issues, i.e. vulnerabilities, and to perceive the adaptive capacities of societies to reduce the burdens and hence vulnerabilities in respect to critical impacts of climate change. Examples of how to cope with negative impacts on societies concern the necessity of the conversion of energy systems as well as the improvement of the global water supply.