Jochen Hinkel is an institutional economist, heading the department of Adaptation and Social Learning at the Global Climate Forum (GCF) and teaching as an external professor (Privatdozent) at the Division of Resource Economics at the Thaer-Institute at Humboldt University in Berlin. His research focuses on decision making, policy making and governance in face of climate risks and associated societal transformations from the following two complementary perspectives:
From a prescriptive or normative perspective, he applies economic, robust and financial decision theory, together with state-of-the-art climate impact models, in order to co-develop, together with stakeholders, desirable, efficient and robust adaptation strategies. This operates at all scales, from local city-level case studies (e.g., German Baltic Sea Cities) to continental (e.g., Europe) and global scale analysis (e.g., PROTECT project, Global Coastal Model Intercomparison Project). In this context, Hinkel leads the development of the DIVA model, an integrated global model for assessing sea-level rise impacts and adaptation related to coastal erosion, flooding, wetland change and human displacement, which has been applied widely for economic assessments of sea-level rise.
From a descriptive and explanatory perspective, he applies frameworks of institutional economics and political sciences in in-depth local case studies in order to gain a deep understanding of current formal and informal adaptation governance arrangements, as well as the drivers of institutional and policy change and performance. Current research covers the governance of coastal adaptation in Germany, in the Maldives and in nature-based solution around Europe. A special focus thereby lies on adaptation funding and finance, in particular on the extent to which it is possible to foster investment in adaptation projects and equitable outcomes through fit-for-purpose blended finance arrangements.
Hinkel has contributed as a Lead Author on coastal risk, adaptation and governance to the last two Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) and currently co-leads work on coastal decision making in the United Nation’s World Climate Research Programme (WCRP).
See full CV here
Media:
The interview with Jochen Hinkel on Economic Motivation for Raising Caostal Flood Defenses in Europe is accessible here
Jochen Hinkel’s presentation on Die Folgen und die Risken für den Menschen: Mit Fokus auf den Meeresspiegelanstieg is accessible here
Completed projects:
ClimVar – Integration of climate variability and change into national strategies for the implementation of the ICZM Protocol in the Mediterranean
COACCH – CO-designing the Assessment of Climate CHange costs
GREEN-WIN – Green growth and win-win strategies for sustainable climate action
Impact2C – Quantifying projected impacts under 2°C of warming
INSeaPTION – INtegrating SEA-level Projections in climate services for coastal adaptation
ISIpedia – Inter-sectoral impacts encyclopedia
MEDIATION – Methodology for effective decision making on impacts and adaptation
PROVIA – Programme of Research on Climate Change Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation
RISES -AM- Responses to coastal climate change: Innovative Strategies for high End Scenarios -Adaptation and Mitigation
SEASCApe Baltic – SEA-level rise, Storm surges, and Coastal Adaptation at the German Baltic Sea coast
