About this blog

The MCC Common Economics Blog is an online platform that facilitates our aim of strengthening the dialogue between science, policymakers and the public. As "cartographers of knowledge" at the science policy interface, we map the state of science at the MCC: up-to-date content on the topics assessments, coal, carbon pricing, urbanization, development and negative emissions. We want to convey crucial information in an easy-to-digest way and communicate our scientific findings to major stakeholders and the public. 

The MCC Common Economics Blog reflects on a new challenge for the future of our economic system: The prosperity of the 21st century will be determined by the sustainable management of the global commons such as the atmosphere, oceans and forests. In its function as a sink for CO2 and other greenhouse gases, the atmosphere is a global common-pool resource. Essentially, the mitigation of climate change is a global public good, posing policy challenges both at the national level (within countries) as well as at the international level (between countries). We seek to understand the impact of climate change and climate change mitigation on long-term welfare and growth. 

Currently however, the commons are treated as “no man’s land” that is available to everyone free of charge. Although everybody benefits from their sustainable usage, there are incentives for free-riding. With every nation thinking this way, individual shrewdness turns into collective stupidity. Some form of cooperation will be a survival condition for humanity. It is the mission of the MCC Common Economics Blog to develop, foster and communicate critical and policy-relevant knowledge in the economics of climate change and sustainability.

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Contributors

Prof. Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer

Prof. Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer is Director of the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Director and Chief Economist of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), and Professor of the Economics of Climate Change at the Technische Universität Berlin. He also served as Co-Chair of Working Group III of the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report.

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Dr. Brigitte Knopf

Dr. Brigitte Knopf has been Secretary General of MCC until 2023. Her recent scientific work focusses on how carbon pricing as a core instrument of climate policy can be implemented in a socially balanced way.

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Prof. Dr. Felix Creutzig

Prof. Dr. Felix Creutzig is head of the MCC working group Land Use, Infrastructures and Transport and Professor of Sustainability Economics at Technische Universität Berlin. He is Coordinating Lead Author of the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the IPCC and was Lead Author of AR5.

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Prof. Dr. Christian Flachsland

Prof. Dr. Christian Flachsland is Professor of Sustainability and Director of the Centre for Sustainability at the Hertie School. He is a Fellow at MCC. He was a co-head of the MCC working group Assessments and Scientific Policy Advice (2012-2015) and head of the MCC working group Governance (2015-2019).

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Prof. Dr. Sabine Fuss

Prof. Dr. Sabine Fuss is Co-Chair of MCC and head of the MCC working group Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change. She has studied international economics, completed a PhD on the energy sector, and holds a professorship at Humboldt University of Berlin. She was lead author of the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C.

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Dr. Michael Jakob

Dr. Michael Jakob is an MCC Fellow. His research focuses on the interrelation between climate change mitigation and sustainable socio-economic development. He holds a PhD in economics as well as  degrees in physics and international relations. He is a Senior Fellow at the Ecologic Institut in Berlin.

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Prof. Dr. Matthias Kalkuhl

Prof. Dr. Matthias Kalkuhl is Co-Chair of MCC and head of the MCC working group Economic Growth and Human Development and Professor of Climate Change, Development and Economic Growth at the University of Potsdam. He advised the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and contributed to the IPCC’s Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources.

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Adj. Prof. Dr. Martin Kowarsch

Adj. Prof. Dr. Martin Kowarsch is an Adjunct Professor at Aalborg University and a Fellow at MCC. Kowarsch is specialized in practically oriented philosophy of the science-policy interface, particularly normative assumptions. He has been head of the MCC working group Scientific Assessments, Ethics, and Public Policy (SEP) until 2023. With Ottmar Edenhofer, he developed a refined science-policy model called the “Pragmatic-Enlightened Model” (PEM), which influenced the assessment strategy of IPCC Working Group III during the Fifth Assessment cycle.

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Dr. Jan Minx

Dr. Jan Minx is head of the MCC working group Applied Sustainability Science and a Visiting Professor for Climate Change and Public Policy at the University of Leeds. He was Head of the Technical Support Unit of Working Group III of the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) and a Coordinating Lead Author of AR6.

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Prof. Dr. Jan Steckel

Prof. Dr. Jan Steckel heads the working group “Climate and Development” at MCC. He is also a professor of climate and development economics at BTU Cottbus. His research focuses on climate mitigation in the Global South. He contributed to IPCC reports, and led a chapter on coal for the UNEP emissions gap report 2017.

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