“In view of globally faltering efforts to avoid greenhouse gases and the increasingly noticeable effects of human-induced climate change, strengthening climate resilience and thereby reducing vulnerabilities and increasing resistance and adaptation to the consequences of climate change is essential,” says Prof. Dr Harald Kunstmann, founding director of the Centre for Climate Resilience.

The Centre for Climate Resilience aims to develop holistic and implementable adaptation strategies for the inevitable consequences of climate change at regional, national, and international levels. The key building blocks for achieving this goal are the promotion of interdisciplinary research as well as the transfer of scientific findings in dialogue with politics and society. 

Markus Blume, Bavarian State Minister for Science and the Arts, says: “It’s full steam ahead and full commitment for climate protection and climate research! The Centre for Climate Resilience at the University of Augsburg is unique and uses the accumulated interdisciplinary expertise of all eight faculties. With Bavaria’s Hightech Agenda, we are further developing Bavaria into a climate-friendly state. New technologies are the key to transformation and adaptation. In the Free State of Bavaria, we are getting down to work: Climate protection concerns everyone!”  

According to Thorsten Glauber, Bavarian State Minister for Environment and Consumer Protection: “The newly established Centre for Climate Resilience is another beacon for Augsburg as a city of the environment and science. With the Centre for Climate Resilience, the University of Augsburg is opening the window to the future. Research is being conducted into how best to prepare for the consequences of climate change. Another focus is the clear and competent communication of research findings. This shows once again that science provides the means for transformation by making complex interrelationships like climate change comprehensible to people. Climate change and its consequences are key global challenges. I wish the staff of the Centre for Climate Resilience under the leadership of Prof. Dr Harald Kunstmann every success in their important work.” 

“With the establishment of the Centre for Climate Resilience, the University of Augsburg is tackling one of the central challenges of our time. We are developing an innovative interdisciplinary concept that is shaped by a holistic understanding of resilience and directly links research findings with teaching and practical knowledge transfer,” says Prof. Dr Sabine Doering-Manteuffel, president of the University of Augsburg. The Centre for Climate Resilience is part of the university’s profile-raising research focus on “Climate and Environment.”

First third-party research project successfully obtained, degree programme planned

With the further development of the Green HospitalPLUS initiative of the Bavarian State Ministry for Health and Care, the Centre has already launched its first major research project. Entitled “Sustainability Instruments in Acute Inpatient Health Care,” the project examines the state of energy efficiency, environmental protection, and social factors in medical clinics. On behalf of the State Ministry of Health and Care, the Centre for Climate Resilience is developing practice-orientated indicators, which can be used to measure and optimise the sustainability of health care facilities.

Further projects from members of the Centre for Climate Resilience have also been obtained and are located at the Centre. In the medium term, a new master’s degree programme in “Climate Resilience” will be established, which is intended to address the growing demand for experts and decision-makers in politics, business, and society who think and work across disciplinary boundaries.