Christoph Bertram

Biographic Data

ID3680835
NAMEChristoph Bertram
GIVEN NAMESChristoph
FAMILY NAMEBertram
SIGNATUREBERTRAM C
AFFILIATIONSLeibniz Association
ORCID0000-0002-0933-4395
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS59
TOTAL CITATIONS52
AUTHOR COUNT55
EDITOR COUNT4
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1968
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX2

  • Promising climate progress from net-zero ambitions to the Paris Agreement goal

    Open AccessIsabela Schmidt Tagomori, Fabio A Diuana et al.ARTICLENature Climate Change2026

    Climate targets require strong commitments from countries to be achieved. Using a multi-model analysis, we show that current net-zero pledges bring the world closer to a well-below 2 °C pathway, but an emission gap remains. Increasing ambition will be crucial: expanding the global coverage of net-zero pledges and speeding up action increases consistency with the Paris Agreement (1.5–2.0 °C range in model mean). However, reaching the 1.5 °C goal w…

  • Feasibility of peak temperature targets in light of institutional constraints

    Open AccessChristoph Bertram, Elina Brutschin et al.ARTICLENature Climate Change2024

    Despite faster-than-expected progress in clean energy technology deployment, global annual CO 2 emissions have increased from 2020 to 2023. The feasibility of limiting warming to 1.5 °C is therefore questioned. Here we present a model intercomparison study that accounts for emissions trends until 2023 and compares cost-effective scenarios to alternative scenarios with institutional, geophysical and technological feasibility constraints and enable…

  • Solar energy as an early just transition opportunity for coal-bearing states in India

    Open AccessAman Malik, Christoph BertramARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2022

    Continued investment in coal embroils regions in coal lock-ins, creating dependence and vested interests around coal and thereby limiting the speed and potential to switch to cleaner energy. In India, four states contribute 70% of coal production, with regions surrounding mines also housing significant operating and under-construction coal power stations. On the other hand, states in the west and south of India dominate current and near-term rene…

  • The wide range of possible aviation demand futures after the Covid-19 pandemic

    Open AccessSebastian Marco Franz, Marianna Rottoli et al.ARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2022

    Aviation has been identified as one of the crucial hard-to-abate sectors, as long-range aviation in particular will continue to depend on liquid fuels for the foreseeable future. The sector was also one of the fastest growing emitters of fossil CO 2 emissions until 2019 but experienced sharply reduced demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, making future demand outlooks more uncertain. While past studies have looked at the variation in future aviati…

  • Exploring Global Climate Policy Futures and Their Representation in Integrated Assessment Models

    Open AccessThomas Hickmann, Christoph Bertram et al.ARTICLEPolitics and Governance2022Cited by: 1References: 24

    The Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, paved the way for a new hybrid global climate governance architecture with both bottom-up and top-down elements. While governments can choose individual climate goals and actions, a global stocktake and a ratcheting-up mechanism have been put in place with the overall aim to ensure that collective efforts will prevent increasing adverse impacts of climate change. Integrated assessment models show that current…

  • Assessing China’s efforts to pursue the 1.5°C warming limit

    Open AccessHongbo Duan, Sheng Zhou et al.ARTICLEScience2021

    Change in the air The 2016 Paris Agreement set the ambitious goals of keeping global temperature rise this century below 2°C, or even better, 1.5°C above preindustrial levels. Substantial interventions are required to meet these goals, particularly for industrialized countries. Duan et al. projected that China will need to reduce its carbon emissions by more than 90% and its energy consumption by almost 40% to do its share in reaching the 1.5°C t…

  • Cost and attainability of meeting stringent climate targets without overshoot

    Open AccessKeywan Riahi, Christoph Bertram et al.ARTICLENature Climate Change2021

  • Net zero-emission pathways reduce the physical and economic risks of climate change

    Open AccessLaurent Drouet, Valentina Bosetti et al.ARTICLENature Climate Change2021

  • A sustainable development pathway for climate action within the UN 2030 Agenda

    Open AccessBjoern Soergel, Elmar Kriegler et al.ARTICLENature Climate Change2021

  • Air quality and health implications of 1.5 °C–2 °C climate pathways under considerations of ageing population: A multi-model scenario analysis

    Open AccessPeter Rafaj, Gregor Kiesewetter et al.ARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2021

    Low-carbon pathways consistent with the 2 °C and 1.5 °C long-term climate goals defined in the Paris Agreement are likely to induce substantial co-benefits for air pollution and associated health impacts. In this analysis, using five global integrated assessment models, we quantify the emission reductions in key air pollutants resulting from the decarbonization of energy systems and the resulting changes in premature mortality attributed to the e…

  • Energy system developments and investments in the decisive decade for the Paris Agreement goals

    Open AccessChristoph Bertram, Keywan Riahi et al.ARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2021

    The Paris Agreement does not only stipulate to limit the global average temperature increase to well below 2 °C, it also calls for ‘making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions’. Consequently, there is an urgent need to understand the implications of climate targets for energy systems and quantify the associated investment requirements in the coming decade. A meaningful analysis must however consider the nea…

  • Land-based implications of early climate actions without global net-negative emissions

    Open AccessTomoko Hasegawa, Shinichiro Fujimori et al.ARTICLENature Sustainability2021Cited by: 2References: 14

  • Taking stock of national climate policies to evaluate implementation of the Paris Agreement

    Open AccessMark Roelfsema, Heleen Van Soest et al.ARTICLENature Communications2020

    Many countries have implemented national climate policies to accomplish pledged Nationally Determined Contributions and to contribute to the temperature objectives of the Paris Agreement on climate change. In 2023, the global stocktake will assess the combined effort of countries. Here, based on a public policy database and a multi-model scenario analysis, we show that implementation of current policies leaves a median emission gap of 22.4 to 28.…

  • Reducing stranded assets through early action in the Indian power sector

    Open AccessAman Malik, Christoph Bertram et al.ARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2020

    Cost-effective achievement of the Paris Agreement’s long-term goals requires the unanimous phase-out of coal power generation by mid-century. However, continued investments in coal power plants will make this transition difficult. India is one of the major countries with significant under construction and planned increase in coal power capacity. To ascertain the likelihood and consequences of the continued expansion of coal power for India’s futu…

  • Early transformation of the Chinese power sector to avoid additional coal lock-in

    Open AccessHuan Wang, Wenying Chen et al.ARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2019

    Emission reduction from the coal-dominated power sector is vital for achieving China’s carbon mitigation targets. Although the coal expansion has been slowed down due to the cancellation of and delay in new construction, coal-based power was responsible for over one third of China’s energy-related CO 2 emissions by 2018. Moreover, with a technical lifetime of over 30 years, current investment in coal-based power could hinder CO 2 mitigation until…

  • A multi-model assessment of food security implications of climate change mitigation

    Open AccessShinichiro Fujimori, Tomoko Hasegawa et al.ARTICLENature Sustainability2019Cited by: 3References: 16

  • Energy investment needs for fulfilling the Paris Agreement and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

    Open AccessDavid L McCollum, Wenji Zhou et al.ARTICLENature Energy2018

  • Enhancing global climate policy ambition towards a 1.5 °C stabilization: A short-term multi-model assessment

    Open AccessZoi Vrontisi, Gunnar Luderer et al.ARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2018

    The Paris Agreement is a milestone in international climate policy as it establishes a global mitigation framework towards 2030 and sets the ground for a potential 1.5 C climate stabilization. To provide useful insights for the 2018 UNFCCC Talanoa facilitative dialogue, we use eight state-of-the-art climate-energy-economy models to assess the effectiveness of the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) in meeting high probability 1.5…

  • Reports of coal’s terminal decline may be exaggerated

    Open AccessOttmar Edenhofer, Jan Christoph Steckel et al.ARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2018

    We estimate the cumulative future emissions expected to be released by coal power plants that are currently under construction, announced, or planned. Even though coal consumption has recently declined and plans to build new coal-fired capacities have been shelved, constructing all these planned coal-fired power plants would endanger national and international climate targets. Plans to build new coal-fired power capacity would likely undermine th…

  • Short term policies to keep the door open for Paris climate goals

    Open AccessElmar Kriegler, Christoph Bertram et al.ARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2018

    Climate policy needs to account for political and social acceptance. Current national climate policy plans proposed under the Paris Agreement lead to higher emissions until 2030 than cost-effective pathways towards the Agreements' long-term temperature goals would imply. Therefore, the current plans would require highly disruptive changes, prohibitive transition speeds, and large long-term deployment of risky mitigation measures for achieving the…

  • Targeted policies can compensate most of the increased sustainability risks in 1.5 °C mitigation scenarios

    Open AccessChristoph Bertram, Gunnar Luderer et al.ARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2018

    Meeting the 1.5 C goal will require a rapid scale-up of zero-carbon energy supply, fuel switching to electricity, efficiency and demand-reduction in all sectors, and the replenishment of natural carbon sinks. These transformations will have immediate impacts on various of the sustainable development goals. As goals such as affordable and clean energy and zero hunger are more immediate to great parts of global population, these impacts are central…

  • Regional Low-Emission Pathways from Global Models

    Open AccessHeleen Van Soest, Lara Aleluia Reis et al.ARTICLESSRN Electronic Journal2016

  • C and SDGs: United they stand, divided they fall

    Open AccessChristoph von Stechow, Jan C Minx et al.ARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2016

    The adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the new international climate treaty could put 2015 into the history books as a defining year for setting human development on a more sustainable pathway. The global climate policy and SDG agendas are highly interconnected: the way that the climate problem is addressed strongly affects the prospects of meeting numerous other SDGs and vice versa. Drawing on existing scenario results from…

  • Fossil-fueled development (SSP5): An energy and resource intensive scenario for the 21st century

    Open AccessElmar Kriegler, Nico Bauer et al.ARTICLEGlobal Environmental Change2016Cited by: 39References: 4

    This paper presents a set of energy and resource intensive scenarios based on the concept of Shared Socio-Economic Pathways (SSPs). The scenario family is characterized by rapid and fossil-fueled development with high socio-economic challenges to mitigation and low socio-economic challenges to adaptation (SSP5). A special focus is placed on the SSP5 marker scenario developed by the REMIND-MAgPIE integrated assessment modeling framework. The SSP5 …

  • A short note on integrated assessment modeling approaches: Rejoinder to the review of “Making or breaking climate targets — The Ampere study on staged accession scenarios for climate policy”

    Open AccessElmar Kriegler, Keywan Riahi et al.ARTICLETechnological Forecasting and…2015