Brochure: Earth System Research Partnership
It is the long-term goal of this research to develop an understanding of the Earth system that allows us to comprehend the changes in the world around us and to respond to them in an informed manner. This is the only way to find out which political and economic measures are urgent and critical for the protection of the Earth system, and how the natural resources of our planet can be used both optimally and sustainably. A solid scientific understanding of the interrelationships in the Earth system is also a basic prerequisite for convincing politicians and society at large of the necessity of difficult and far-reaching measures, such as a drastic reduction in CO2 emissions. At the same time it is important to develop technological and economic alternatives, an area in which collaboration with other research establishments will be sought. These alternatives will themselves have implications for the Earth system, which we can only study through experiments with Earth system models.
Brochure: Climate Projections for the 21st Century
Since the middle of the 19th century the temperature of the Earth's surface has increased by almost 1 degree. Much of this observed global warming is due to human activities. Recent climate simulations performed by the Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology suggest that the global, annual mean temperature increases by 2,5 °C to 4°C at the end of the 21st century if emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases continue to grow unabatedly.