Hans Joachim Schellnhuber appointed climate advisor to German government

Lars Josefsson, the head of the Swedish energy company Vattenfall, was appointed to the same position. The German Government anticipates that external advisors will help drive forward climate protection and energy policy during Germany's EU Council Presidency and G8 Presidency in 2007. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber has been a member of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) since 1992. He was the Council's Vice-Chair from 1994-1996, Chair from 1996-2000 and Vice-Chair again since 2004. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber is the Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). He is a Professor in Theoretical Physics at the University of Potsdam and a Visiting Professor in Physics and Visiting Fellow of Christ Church College at Oxford University. He holds senior positions in numerous international programmes. From 2001 to 2005, he was Research Director at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in Norwich, UK. In 2004, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber was awarded an honorary CBE (Honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his key contribution to climate change science and to UK-German cooperation.