The Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) was co-founded by Stiftung Mercator and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). Both partners are funders of the institute.
Preventing dangerous climate change is one of Stiftung Mercator’s central objectives. In establishing the MCC in 2011, its aim was to drive forward research into viable ways of reconciling economic growth and climate change mitigation, and to strengthen scientific policy advice in this area.
Stiftung Mercator is a private and independent foundation. Through the projects it supports and through its own activities, it is committed to a society characterized by openness to the world, solidarity and equal opportunities. Since 1995, Stiftung Mercator has dedicated itself to establishing the social prerequisites for people of different backgrounds, convictions and social situations to live together in peace. It supports mutual understanding and exchange between people of different cultures and stands up for democracy and the rule of law in a unified Europe.
The foundation promotes science and research relating to the objectives it pursues for the benefit of everyone. In a new area of thematic focus, the foundation will be exploring the impact of digitization on democracy and society. Stiftung Mercator wants to preserve nature and the environment, and supports projects that highlight ways of achieving climate neutrality.
Stiftung Mercator pursues activities in Germany, Europe and worldwide. It has a particular affinity with the Ruhr area, the home of its founding family and of the foundation’s headquarters.
At the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) researchers from the natural and social sciences from all over the world work in close collaboration to study global climate change and its impacts on ecological, economic and social systems. The researchers examine the Earth system's capacity for withstanding human interventions and devise strategies and options for a sustainable development of humankind and nature.
The PIK generates fundamental knowledge for sustainable development primarily through data analysis and computer simulations of the dynamic processes in the Earth system, but also of social processes. Its members publish their research findings in international publications for the scientific community and advise high-ranking policymakers in Germany and abroad.
Widely recognized for its strong interdisciplinary as well as solution-oriented approach, the PIK is part of a global network of scientific institutions working on questions of global environmental change. It plays an active role in activities such as the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), also known as the world's climate council.
MCC was founded jointly by
