Prof. Bernd Hirschl has been appointed to the Brandenburg Climate Council

17.07.2024

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The committee will advise and support the state government in achieving its climate protection goals. The establishment of the twelve-member Climate Advisory Board is part of the climate plan adopted by the state government in March 2024. The examiner on which the climate plan is based was the IÖW, under the direction of Bernd Hirschl, together with partners on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Climate Protection (MLUK) of the state of Brandenburg. At the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU), Prof. Dr. phil. Bernd Hirschl is chair of the Management of Regional Energy Supply Structures.

"The implementation of the climate plan adopted in March is crucial on the path to Brandenburg's climate neutrality by 2045," said Brandenburg's Climate Protection Minister Axel Vogel during the inaugural meeting on July 15, 2024 in Potsdam. "The Scientific Climate Council will play a central role in monitoring the achievement of the climate targets. We have succeeded in attracting top-class scientists to the advisory board. They will monitor climate policy in Brandenburg and provide scientific support with proposals for further development. This has never happened before in Brandenburg in this form and is a great benefit for our state."

Working closely together on climate protection in the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan region

Bernd Hirschl heads the "Sustainable Energy Economics and Climate Protection" research field at the IÖW and is Professor of "Management of Regional Energy Supply Structures" at the Brandenburg University of Technology (BTU) Cottbus-Senftenberg. "On the scientific climate advisory board, I would like to support the state of Brandenburg in implementing its climate plan, which requires a wide range of measures in various sectors," says Hirschl about his motivation for joining the advisory board. "In order to become climate-neutral, it is also important that the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan region works closely together. It is therefore particularly important to me to build substantive bridges between the climate protection measures of the states of Berlin and Brandenburg and to identify cooperation needs and opportunities."

Hirschl has also been a member and spokesperson for the Berlin Climate Protection Council since it was founded in 2017. As an independent body of experts, the Climate Protection Council advises the Berlin Senate and the House of Representatives comprehensively in the field of climate protection and energy policy and ensures compliance with climate protection targets and the implementation and updating of the Berlin Energy and Climate Protection Program (BEK). The BEK contains measures and concrete strategies on how Berlin can become climate-neutral by 2050. It was developed under the leadership of Bernd Hirschl from the IÖW and other partners on behalf of the state of Berlin.

Scientific monitoring: Is Brandenburg on the right track with climate protection?

The main task of Brandenburg's independent Climate Advisory Council is to provide scientific support for the monitoring process for the climate plan. This involves regularly reviewing the progress made in achieving Brandenburg's climate targets and the further development of measures. Every two years and for the first time in 2025, the state government will present a "climate report" on the development of greenhouse gas emissions in Brandenburg and the degree to which targets have been achieved, as well as an assessment of the implementation status of the 103 climate plan measures. The advisory board will evaluate this report and submit proposals for the further development of the climate plan.

The members of the Climate Advisory Board were appointed by the Climate Protection Ministry on the recommendation of the relevant ministries and their expertise covers all relevant sectors and fields of action of the Climate Plan, including energy, industry, heat transition, mobility, forestry and agriculture, circular economy and bioeconomy, land use, peatland protection as well as municipal climate protection and social aspects of energy transition and climate protection.

The members were initially appointed for three years until July 31, 2027. By the end of the year, an office will be set up at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) with two research assistants to support the board chairperson and the advisory board.

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