Conferences
Contributing side events, posters and presentations, for example at the International Conference on Negative CO2 Emissions 2024.
Non-profit · gGmbH
Perspectives Climate Research.
Independent evidence you can build on: a not-for-profit research think tank, kept deliberately separate from our advisory work.
Who we are
Perspectives Climate Research, based in Freiburg, Germany, is an independent, internationally active, not-for-profit research think tank. That independence is by design: the research stands apart from our advisory work, so the evidence you build on stays impartial.
We carry out research for governments, international organisations, non-governmental organisations and the private sector, giving each an evidence base that meets high standards of methodological and environmental integrity. Recent collaborations include research projects funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the EU Horizon programme and the philanthropy Carbon Gap.
Research across the whole range of Perspectives’ work.
Our research examines climate finance, carbon market integrity, carbon dioxide removal and climate-policy governance. We study how public finance, policy instruments and international rules can support mitigation and adaptation.
Our climate-finance work assesses the Paris alignment of export credit agencies, the accounting of climate finance, and how public finance can support the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
Alongside this work, we research Article 6 methodologies, national climate strategies and the governance of solar radiation modification. Our projects connect evidence across energy, industry, land use and other sectors.
Five projects that set the direction of the institute.
A selection across the research programme: what each project set out to do, and what came of it.
2023
Horizon Europe
2021 Co-CREATE
The first Horizon Europe project led by Perspectives Climate Research. Twelve European research and think tank institutions work on how research into solar radiation modification should be governed, and on the decision support that funding agencies need.
BMBF
2020 Carbon Dioxide Removal Options: Policies and Ethics (CDR PoEt)
The first large grant from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, delivered by a transnational consortium. The project set out which policy instruments can promote carbon dioxide removal and how the fairness questions should be handled, and led to a special issue of Climate Policy.
European Climate Foundation
2021 Paris alignment of export credit agencies
An assessment of where export credit agencies fall short in supporting mitigation technologies. Perspectives built the alignment methodology, then applied it to the export credit agencies of the major economies.
Project cluster
2022 International Initiative for Development of Article 6 Methodology Tools (II-AMT)
Additionality and baseline tools designed to be grafted onto existing CDM methodologies rather than written from scratch. The outcomes shaped the PACM additionality tool and the Baseline Standard under Article 6.4.
BMWK
Carbon Market Mechanisms Working Group (CMM-WG)
An informal discussion group of government representatives and practitioners, publishing short studies and policy papers on the methodological questions Article 6 keeps running into.
The papers our researchers point to first.
2025
Censkowsky, Waidelich, Shishlov, Steffen
2022 Quantifying the shift of public export finance from fossil fuels to renewable energy
Nature Communications 16, 900
Michaelowa, Michaelowa, Hermwille, Espelage
2022 Towards net zero: making baselines for international carbon markets dynamic by applying ambition coefficients
Climate Policy 22, 1343-1355
Ahonen, Kessler, Michaelowa, Espelage, Hoch
2022 Governance of Fragmented Compliance and Voluntary Carbon Markets Under the Paris Agreement
Politics and Governance 10
Shishlov, Censkowsky
2021 Definitions and accounting of climate finance: between divergence and constructive ambiguity
Climate Policy 22, 798-816
Honegger, Michaelowa, Pan
Potential implications of solar radiation modification for achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals
Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change
Recent work published by Perspectives Climate Research.
2026
Guidance paper
2026 Mechanism methodologies: Guidance on Article 6.4 baseline setting approaches
Discussion paper
2026 Applying corresponding adjustments: Methods and key implications
Analytical report
2026 Managing Reversal Risk: Assessment, Mitigation and Compensation
Analytical report
2026 How Can the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism Deliver Upscaled Crediting?
Discussion paper
2026 Can Insurance Successfully Address Reversal Risk in Carbon Markets?
Report
Bridging aid and trade: Exploring synergies between Swedish climate-related development and export finance
Beyond publishing, part of the scientific process.
In addition to publishing their work, our researchers take an active role in scientific processes.
Peer review and editing
Acting as peer reviewers and guest editors, including a special issue of Climate Policy co-edited by Dr Axel Michaelowa and Dr Malte Winkler.
Article collections
Co-organising article collections, such as a collection on blue carbon in Carbon Management.
Funders and research partners
Research funders
Research partners
Work with our researchers