The European Climate Forum (ECF) is a platform for joint studies and science-based stakeholder dialogues on climatic change

Climatic Change

Climatic Change is a scientific journal published by Springer Science+Business Media. It deals with the problems of climatic variability and change...

. ECF brings together representatives of different parties concerned with the climate problem.

Objectives and Vision

The core activity of the Forum is to define and carry out joint studies; these shall provide arguments for long-term climate mitigation and adaptation policies leading ultimately towards a sustainable development path. The groups we engage with systematically are from:

• energy industries and major energy users,
• companies engaged in renewables,
• insurance and finance enterprises,
• policy-makers,
• environmental NGOs,
• and scientists.

Foundation and Organisation

The European Climate Forum was founded in September 2001 by seven research institutes (founding members). Prof. Carlo Jaeger and Prof. Klaus Hasselmann led the initiative. ECF is administered and regulated through the Board of Directors and the Council. The Board of Directors consists of a minimum of four and a maximum of seven members, including the Chairperson and the Vice Chairperson. Members are elected for a period of two years. Re-election is possible.

Board of directors

Current members of the Board of Directors include the following:

• Carlo C. Jaeger (Chairman, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research - PIK)
• Klaus Hasselmann (Vice-Chairman, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology)
• Peter Hoeppe (Munich Re)
• Antonio Navarra (Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici)

The Council

The Council consists of a maximum of seven members. The Council constitutes the process leader assembly. Current members of the Council include the following:

• Antonella Battaglini (SuperSmart Grid)
• Sebastian Gallehr (ECF Capacity Center)
• Carlo Giupponi (Participatory Methods)
• Armin Haas (Integrated Risk Governance)
• Klaus Hasselmann (Socio-Ecological Modelling)
• Lisbeth Iversen (Sustainable Cities)
• Ola Johannesen (Arctic)

The European Climate Forum is a non-profit organization. Regular membership of the forum is open to any institution or group that accepts the ECF rules and pays a one time membership fee.

Faithful to its mission, the European Climate Forum will not to try to enforce a consensus on the 2 degrees view of dangerous climate change among its members or a broader public. Rather,we will continue the inquiry on how to avoid dangerous climate change

Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change

The related terms "avoiding dangerous climate change" and "preventing dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system" date to 1995 and earlier, in the Second Assesment Report of the International Panel on Climate Change and previous science it cites.In 2002, the United Nations...

by organizing modeling exercises,case studies and debate with partners characterized by different opinions,but also by mutual respect for these opinions.
A key tool for this process will be the Kyoto-Plus Lab. Under this label,ECF has agreed with the Heinrich Boll Foundation to organize a process of inquiry on how to move from the Kyoto Protocol to a long-tern climate policy consistent with the 2 degrees goal. It will involve workshops,discussion papers,publications in the scientific literature and the mass media,and a web-based communication pletform involving innovative tools like board and computer games-the latest product in this series being the board game "Winds of Change"(see pictures below).

Mission

The European Climate Forum initiates and performs high-class research on climate change in close interaction with stakeholders. We provide a pluralistic communication platform in the emerging global field of governments, local authorities, businesses, and social movements. This field lies beyond the traditional linkage between academic institutions and the nation state hosting them. It requires a capability to learn from each other in situations where consensus is impossible, perhaps not even desirable. As a key requisite for addressing the climate challenge in this spirit, ECF contributes to a new economic theory that will enhance our capability to manage climate risks.

Tools

ECF develops and maintains three kinds of tools:

• Multi-agent models of coupled human-ecological systems;
• Balanced Scorecards as more comprehensive methodology than cost-benefit analysis;
• Science-based stakeholder dialogues about climate policy issues.