2015 ICCG Climate Think Tank Ranking: DIE sharpens its profile among the worldwide leading think tanks in climate policy

2015 ICCG Climate Think Tank Ranking: DIE sharpens its profile among the worldwide leading think tanks in climate policy

Press release, 28 June 2016

The German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) belongs to the leading research institutions in climate policy and climate economy worldwide: This is the assessment of the 2015 “Climate Think Tank Ranking”. The results were presented last week by the International Center for Climate Governance (ICCG). The study which was announced on June 23, 2016, by ICCG Director Carlo Carraro at the 22nd Annual Conference of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE, Zurich, Switzerland) ranks DIE for the first time as one of the top 15 think tanks in the respective field. Since only a part of DIE’s work on global development issues focuses on climate challenge, the ranking’s results were met with great surprise at the institute in Bonn, Germany. However, based on new and innovative research and policy advice projects the DIE was evidently able to strengthen its position as a leading climate and development institute.

According to the ICCG’s ranking, the DIE achieved rank 13 in the category measuring the think tanks’ performances regardless of their sizes (compared to rank 34 in 2014’s ranking). According to the survey, DIE belongs to the three most renowned German climate and development policy think tanks, alongside with the Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung (UFZ) and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

“We are happy that our Institute has been rated so well in the 2015 ICCG Climate Think Tank Ranking”, DIE director Dirk Messner said.”We have extended our climate policy expertise during the last years with many projects which examine the interlinkages between climate change and development policy. An example is the Klimalog project which investigates key issues of international climate politics and which is supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.” Alongside to the research project a dialogue platform facilitates dialogue between pertinent actors in politics, academia, civil society and the private sector by organizing panel discussions, workshops, international conferences and social media.

This fourth edition of ICCG’s Climate Think Tank Ranking assesses 240 non-University affiliated think tanks, specialized in the field of climate change economics and policy. The ICCG ranking is based on a solid quantitative methodology and analytical data. Think tanks were assessed on a set of 15 indicators structured in three main pillars: Activities, Publications and Dissemination.