Finn Haberkost

Finn joined RIFS as a research associate in 2025. Since May 2026, he has been working on the project "RESET," which examines the challenges and potential of enhanced rock weathering (ERW) as a method of atmospheric carbon dioxide removal (CDR). In this context, he is pursuing an interdisciplinary PhD on the conditions for scaling CDR in general and ERW in particular, as well as on the systemic risks associated with them.

Previously, Finn worked at RIFS on green lead markets and demand-side policy instruments, with a focus on the market ramp-up for green hydrogen. Both research areas are united by the question of how market offtake and willingness to pay can be created in those areas of the energy transition where green technologies do not yet constitute a business case and require public support. He also engages with the tension constitutive of CDR: the risk of normalising the failure to meet emissions reduction targets on the one hand, and the indispensable role of CDR in achieving Paris-compatible climate pathways on the other.

Finn holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Hamburg and a master’s degree in political theory from the Goethe University Frankfurt. In this context, he spent semesters abroad at University College London and Virginia Tech, and completed internships at the Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).