Dr. Brigitte Knopf
Dr. Brigitte Knopf is the Secretary General of the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC). In this role, her reponsibilities include:
- 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. 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.