Senior Climate Scientist; f​/m​/d

Job Description

We are currently seeking a (Senior) Climate Scientist for our Climate Policy Team in our Headquarters in Berlin. You will work on evaluating emissions scenarios and other lines of evidence, using reduced‑complexity climate models and climate‑model emulator tools and methods, in particular MAGICC and FaIR, to produce probabilistic assessments of global climate‑system outcomes (e.g., temperature, rate of warming, GHG concentration, radiative forcing and related indicators).

This work will be used as a critical part of our Global Pathways Group assessing the strategic mitigation implications of these outcomes for different sectors and countries.

You will use this work to evaluate mitigation options and scenarios against the objective of limiting peak 21st century warming as close as possible to 1.5 °C, reducing both the magnitude and duration of any overshoot of 1.5 °C, bringing greenhouse gas emissions down to below zero within the second half of the century. The position involves providing scientific assessments of the climatic benefits and/or consequences of fossil‑fuel phase‑out scenarios, methane mitigation, scenarios of (co‑emitted) air pollutants, and other mitigation options for achieving the temperature goal and emissions goal of the Paris agreement.

This role requires a solid understanding of climate physics modeling and a strong interest in understanding and collaborating on policy analysis. Your work will be central to several flagship projects, such as the Climate Action Tracker and National Pathways Explorer. It will also contribute to the organization’s broader work on 1.5 °C overshoot, informing international climate negotiations and national strategies.

• Developing and maintaining existing analytical pipelines to translate emissions and scenario inputs into physical climate indicators using reduced‑complexity climate models and climate‑model emulators (e.g., FaIR/MAGICC), including the probabilistic analysis of pathway ensembles, the physics of greenhouse gases and pollutants, and uncertainty quantification.
• Developing and maintaining the Climate Action Tracker global aggregation and pathway extension system for emission gap and global warming assessments.
• Developing scientific tools based on the reduced‑complexity models and model emulators to assess emission pathways and mitigation options for all greenhouse gases and forcing agents in reducing the magnitude, likelihood and duration of the overshoot of 1.5 °C and in reducing greenhouse gas emissions to below zero within the second half of the century.
• Maintaining state‑of‑the‑art historical data and climate system calibrations for reduced‑complexity climate models and climate‑model emulators used by Climate Analytics, and associated methods for analyzing emission pathways.
• Keeping track of developments in, and application of, reduced‑complexity climate models and climate‑model emulators, including in the scientific literature and in the context of IPCC AR7 and UNEP Emissions Gap Reports to maintain state‑of‑the‑art capacity.
• Using these models, emulators and other lines of evidence, helping develop and communicate global and national benchmarks (e.g., temperature outcomes, GHG concentrations, radiative forcing trajectories, carbon budgets) for country and sector decarbonization, in line with the Paris Agreement’s long‑term temperature goal.
• Maintaining and expanding partnerships with groups that develop reduced‑complexity climate models and climate‑model emulators, and supporting the CPT IAM modeling lead in their work and partnerships with Integrated Assessment Modeling groups.
• Coordinating with project partners and relevant stakeholders – both internally and externally and maintaining relationships with collaborators.
• Ensuring scientific integrity of your work and the work of others.
• Contributing to scientific articles on the topic.
• Representing Climate Analytics and project teams in meetings and conferences and disseminating project results.
• Contributing to and leading the development and acquisition of new projects.

You will ideally have the following qualifications and skills:

• Hold a…