Competence Centre for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation (CliMA)

Welcome at the Competence Center for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

By founding CliMA, University of Kassel has created an interdisciplinary Competence Centre that brings together research expertise on climate change mitigation, climate adaptation and social conditions and which also promotes the transfer of this knowledge and experience. CliMA is involved in research projects at all levels, from the basics to implementation, and in various tasks within the fields of climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Since January 2010, the University of Kassel is part of the newly founded European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) that consists of Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KIC). Hessen is regional partner in the Climate-KIC bringing in the expertise of its research institutions and companies regarding climate change mitigation and adaptation; hence, the competences of CliMA.

Formation of CliMA

CliMA differs from other climate change research institutions in terms of both its implementation-oriented approach and by its interdisciplinary governance-concept, which combines solutions and implementation expertise.

The centre links the expertise of researchers and professors at University of Kassel to issues concerning climate change mitigation and of how best to adapt to the inevitable impact of climate change. This combination makes the University’s expertise more visible and facilitates the implementation of interdisciplinary research when several professors are working together on research projects.

In accordance with both its objectives and its conceptional approach, CliMA is arranged into four divisions.

  • The climate change solutions division focuses on developing solutions to satisfy global, regional and local concepts and actions for climate change mitigation with the focal points energy supply and distribution and energy usage.

  • Interdisciplinary approaches to concepts and actions in terms of climate adaptation are developed by the climate adaptation solutions division. Focal points of the research are in the areas of resources, production and logistics, planning and construction, mobility, tourism and regional development.
  • The social framework conditions division studies impeding and supporting social factors that influence the implementation of solutions in society. Focusing on law, economics, psychology, sociology and politics, it develops strategies for necessary social and economic change.
  • The division responsible for the tranfer of knowledge takes an interdisciplinary approach to studying how the subject of climate change can be successfully communicated and implements these findings as examples. In addition to the fields of educational sciences and didactics, the practical partner UniKasselTransfer and the guest Climate Adaptation Academy are also represented within this division.

The research is implementation-oriented, because the questions posed by the research arise as a result of specific problems of climate change, mitigation and adaptation. Not only factual solutions are proposed, research results are also closely studied: supportive and inhibitive social conditions, individual financial incentives and restrictive actions are all carefully considered with respect to their impact upon the implementation of these solutions in real-life.

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