RIFS conducts research with the goal of understanding, advancing, and guiding processes of societal change towards sustainable development.

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Kunsthaus

Planetary Transitions: Potsdam Artist Residency

The colour scale sIn this colour scale, each stripe represents a single year, with shades of blue for cooler years and shades of red for warmer ones, and together they show how rapidly temperatures have been rising in recent decades.

© iStock/ m.malinika

Climate Facts Paper: How the Climate Crisis Can Be Solved

New DKK fact paper for COP31, co-authored by RIFS Director Doris Fuchs

The Amazon River meets the Atlantic Ocean in this satellite image.

© European Space Agency/CC BY-SA 2.0

Amazon: Study Examines Planetary Governance by Carbon Metrics

Maria Cecilia Oliveira on the Amazon as a transterritorial space

Susanne Buiter and Franziska Mey at the dialogue forum

© RIFS@GFZ/Camier

Transformative Research as Society Shifts to the Right

Report on the Dialogue Forum on Resilience in Sustainability Research

In brief

Science against Fascism

How do right-wing and authoritarian ideologies influence climate and environmental policy? And how can we prevent the ecological transition from being co-opted by authoritarian forces? Franziska Mey and Tobias Haas from RIFS will be discussing these issues with other experts on 17 November as part of the theme week Wissenschaft gegen Faschismus (Science against Fascism) – online, in German.

The Role of Artists in Times of Crisis

On 2 November, RIFS researcher Dr. Anne Chahine will join composer and Pulitzer Prize winner Susie Ibarra and musician, scholar and curator Jason King (USC Thornton School of Music) in a panel discussion at Berlin's Volksbühne Theatre to explore what artists can contribute when climate change, geopolitical conflict and the loss of shared certainties put societies under pressure.

Methane Removal Project

On October 15 and 16, 2026, the Helmholtz Forum Earth and Environment held the kick-off workshop for the project “Methane Removal: A Critical Assessment and Research Agenda”. Methane is the second-largest contributor to human-caused global warming after carbon dioxide. The project examines scientific and societal questions about atmospheric methane removal.

Dossiers

Prototyp eines supraleitenden Stromkabels.

Superconductivity

In the coming decades, the development of renewable energy sources (RES) such as wind and solar will play a major role in reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and making our energy system more sustainable. But the places where RES are available or would be most efficient are often located far away from the densely populated and industrial areas where the energy is needed: on the open sea in the case of offshore wind and in sunnier climes in the case of solar. This means that the construction of new power lines needs to go hand in hand with RES development. In Germany for instance, expanding the electrical grid has become a crucial precondition for the success of the Energiewende.

The ocean is full of plastic waste.

Protecting the Marine Environment: An International Treaty on Plastic Pollution

Marine plastic pollution poses a threat to the marine environment, affecting both human and ocean health. A global treaty is currently being negotiated under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) to provide a comprehensive global legal framework addressing plastic pollution, including in the marine environment. Scientists within the Ocean Governance research group at RIFS are closely following the negotiation processes and exploring the role of the future treaty in ocean governance.

Felder, Wälder, Windräder: eine Landschaft in Brandenburg.

Sustainability in Brandenburg

From the energy transition to water protection: Brandenburg is facing major sustainability challenges. As a Potsdam institute, RIFS is actively involved in sustainability work in Brandenburg.

Discussion at the Citizens’ Assembly for Democracy in Leipzig.

Deliberative Mini-Publics

Deliberative mini-publics are participatory processes in which a randomly selected and heterogenous group of citizens cooperate for a period to develop recommendations, ideas or solutions on a specific issue. RIFS accompanies these processes in various roles.

Justice in Sustainability is the RIFS focal topic for 2022/23.

Justice in Sustainability

The issue of justice is increasingly playing a greater role in the transformation towards sustainability. Calls to improve justice outcomes touch on a variety of issues, in particular the distribution of the costs and benefits of transformations as well as the burdens of climate change and environmental degradation. Other claims target procedural aspects: Who should have access to decision-making about transformation towards sustainability? A third set of justice claims focuses on recognition: Which groups are or should be recognized as rights-holders or as affected or especially vulnerable populations?

Tsunami - iStockphoto - estt

Systemic Risks

Modern societies are vulnerable to “systemic risks” such as pandemics, financial crises, or climate change. Due to their complex and interconnected nature, systemic risks pose a particular challenge to conventional approaches to risk analysis and management. The research group on systemic risks at RIFS analyses risks and opportunities around transformation processes for sustainable development and, in a second step, develops policy recommendations for the governance of systemic risks.

What will the future hold for young Brazilians? Their country is facing considerable social and environmental challenges.

Brazil: Strengthening Resilience in Times of Crisis

With 200 million citizens of diverse ethnicities, Brazil is the largest and most populous nation in Latin America. Brazil is also home to most of the world’s largest rainforest: the Amazon. The Brazilian economy is the ninth-largest in the world but has languished in recent years. A group of researchers at RIFS is casting a spotlight on sustainable development and democratic change in Brazil.

The loss of marine biodiversity is weakening the ocean ecosystem. A new UN treaty may help to protect it.

Biodiversity: UN Agreement for the Protection of the Ocean

Fishing, shipping, pollution and climate change pose a threat to the high seas. An international UN Agreement, adopted in March 2023, will provide the legal framework for states to take action and protect marine biodiversity. In the Ocean Governance Group, scientists at RIFS are researching the impacts of ocean policies and developing recommendations.

How dangerous is air pollution for my health? Many cyclists in German cities ask themselves the same question.

Air Pollution and Climate Change

Air pollution and climate change are closely related. The main sources of CO2 emissions – the extraction and burning of fossil fuels – are not only key drivers of climate change, but also major sources of air pollutants.

The global ocean circulation system and the circulation system of the atmosphere are changing due to global warming. This NASA illustration shows a complex pattern of large and minor surface currents.

Climate Engineering

While there is still hope that risks from climate change can be limited by cutting greenhouse gas emissions, there is also a perception that ‘time is running out’. This perception of a looming watershed has given rise to calls for research on intentional, large-scale interventions into the climate system, referred to as either ‘climate engineering’ or ‘geoengineering’.

Zugang zu bezahlbarer, verlässlicher, nachhaltiger und zeitgemäßer Energie für alle ist eines der UN-Nachhaltigkeitsziele.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

By endorsing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the international community signalled its commitment to tackling global challenges through cooperation. The Agenda provides a blueprint for reconciling economic growth with social justice and environmental sustainability.

Der Chemiekonzern Bayer stellt bereits Produkte aus CO2 her.

CO₂: From Waste to Feedstock

Economic activities and consumer behaviour in developed countries are currently based mainly on the use of fossil-based raw materials, and their emissions are largely responsible for anthropogenic climate change. In efforts to reduce human effects on the climate, the avoidance of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is and remains the most important measure. But high CO2 emissions go hand in hand with a demand for carbon in the form of many of the goods that we need on a daily basis, for example for the production of plastics or fuels. Can it therefore make sense to consider the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) as a source of carbon? Since the 1970s, scientists have been researching carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technologies. The aim of these technologies is to re-cycle the CO2 contained in emissions as a feedstock for industrial processes. This captured CO2 could replace fossil-based carbon as a component of materials and energy carriers, thereby creating a carbon cycle.