Dr. Brigitte Knopf is Secretary General of MCC. She is responsible for
- Management and Strategy of MCC
- Cooperation with Universities and Stakeholders from government, business and civil society
- German and European energy and climate policy (Energiewende)
Her recent work focusses on the implementation of the Paris Agreement at the German and international level. She is co-author of MCC-PIK's expertise on options for a carbon pricing reform in Germany, which was presented in the Climate Cabinet in July 2019. Since September 2020, she is a member and deputy chairperson of the new Council of Experts on Climate Change appointed by the German government. She was recently a member of the United Nations Scientific Advisory Group which was in involved in preparing the UN Climate Action Summit in September. She is lead author of the chapter on fiscal policies for the low-carbon transition of the UNEP Emissions Gap Report 2018. In the context of the G20 process, she develops strategies how carbon pricing could support not only climate change mitigation, but also finance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Before joining MCC in 2015, she was deputy head of the research domain Sustainable Solutions at the Potsdam-Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and head of the group Energy Strategies Europe and Germany. She holds a PhD in physics. In 2014, she coordinated the Euro-CASE assessment of the EU emissions trading scheme. As an expert for the German Energiewende and European climate and energy policy, from 2013-2014 she led an international model comparison on the effects of technology choices on EU climate policy that explores EU's 2030 climate target and that is closely linked to the Energy Roadmap. From 2007-2010 she coordinated one of the first global model comparisons of the technical feasibility of the 2°C target.
Brigitte Knopf is also interested in scientific policy advice and the design of the science-policy interface. From 2009 to 2011 she was Senior Advisor of the Technical Support Unit of the IPCC Working Group III for preparing the IPCC Special Report on Renewables. She is also contributing author in IPCC's Fifths Assessment Report of Working Group III on the Mitigation of Climate Change.
Brigitte Knopf is author of several publications in scientific journals and involves actively in the public debate in Germany and at the EU level with presentations and media interviews.
Curriculum vitae
High-res press photo (source: MCC)
Publications:
Journal Articles (peer reviewed)
see below ("Current Publications")
Opinion pieces and newspaper articles
Knopf, Brigitte (2022): Teilhabe ist mehr – Energiewende gesellschaftlich tragen Tagesspiegel Background, 27.01.2022
Knopf, Brigitte (2021): Essay: Energiewende als gesellschaftliche Herausforderung BDEW-Onlinemagazin, 28.10.2021
Knopf, Brigitte (2021): Klimawandel – Was wissen wir, was können wir tun, was dürfen wir hoffen? NZZ Standpunkte, 03.10.2021
Knopf, Brigitte (2021): Politiker verstehen Klimakrise nicht. ZDF morgenmagazin, 06.05.2021
Knopf, Brigitte (2021): Ein sozialverträglicher ausgestalteter CO2-Preis als Wegbegleiter für Klimaneutralität, blog politische ökonomie, 11.03.2021
Knopf, Brigitte (2019): Politische Lösungen statt Verzicht. Tagesspiegel, 08.09.2019
Knopf, Brigitte (2019): Klimapaket: Mercator-Institut fürchtet kleinteilige Lösung. ARD Morgenmagazin, 20.09.2019.
Knopf, Brigitte (2019): Der Kohleausstieg reicht nicht. Focus online, 27.07.2019
Knopf, Brigitte, Kalkuhl, Matthias (2019): CO2 besteuern und das Geld an die Bürger zurückzahlen. Zeit Online, 07.02.2019.
Knopf, Brigitte (2017): A step to the side: the G20’s climate dance. T20 Germany Blog, 14.07.2017
Knopf, Brigitte (2017): Three policy options for Germany to lead the G20 towards carbon pricing. T20 Germany Blog, 26.01.2017
Knopf, Brigitte (2015): G20 can do what Paris climate summit can't: tax carbon. Huffington Post, 8.12.2015
Knopf, Brigitte (2015): Nach der Klimakonferenz sind die G20 mit der Umsetzung dran. Der Tagesspiegel, 27.11.2015.
Knopf, Brigitte (2015): Sportliches Klimaprogramm für Indien. Frankfurter Rundschau, 08.10.2015.
Knopf, Brigitte (2015): Die Katholische Kirche und das Klima: Welches Geheimnis sich in der Enzyklika des Papstes verbirgt. Der Tagesspiegel, 24.6.2015. Link
Knopf, Brigitte (2015): Heaven belongs to us all – the new papal encyclical. energypost, 19.6.2015. Link
Knopf, Brigitte (2015): Der Himmel gehört uns allen – die neue Enzyklika des Papstes. SciLogs KlimaLounge, 19.6.2015. Link
Knopf, Brigitte (2015): Heaven belongs to us all – the new papal encyclical. RealClimate, 18.6.2015. Link
