Thank you to our departing Board Member
Professor Schellnhuber retires as a Trustee
The CBA warmly thanks Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, who is stepping down from the Board of Trustees at the end of his two-year term. We are very grateful for his wise counsel, trust and commitment to the CBA during his time in office, supporting the first two years of the CBA.
Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber
As the founding director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Professor Schellnhuber led the institute from 1992 to 2018. He also served as research director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in Great Britain from 2001 to 2005. Since December 2023, Schellnhuber has been appointed as the Director General of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg, Austria. He is member of numerous learned societies, including the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the German National Academy Leopoldina, the US National Academy of Sciences, the Academia Europaea, and the Academy of Athens. Throughout his career, Schellnhuber has received several notable awards, such as the German Environmental Prize (2007), the Volvo Environmental Prize (2011), the Blue Planet Prize (2017), and the Ratio et Spes Prize (2021). In 2022, Schellnhuber was also awarded the Honorary Edition of the German Sustainability Prize for his “enormous influence on science, politics, and business by developing and communicating sustainable solutions to the global environmental crisis”.
He acted as a scientific advisor to a number of eminent public and religious leaders, including the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Commission Presidents José Manuel Barroso and Ursula von der Leyen, and Pope Francis. For 28 continuous years, he has served as a member and chair of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) since its establishment in 1992. He contributed in various ways to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
In recognition of his achievements, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber received several prestigious honors, including being named a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II (2004). He was also awarded the Order of Merit of the State of Brandenburg (2008), the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2011) and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, of the Japanese Government (2020). In 2021, Schellnhuber received the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany from President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and became Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur of the French Republic.
Photo: Ian Jones
