Many countries, communities, and social actors around the world are struggling to cope with the impacts of climate change. Adapting to climate change in a sustainable manner involves a huge collective effort and is barely happening. How can sustainable climate change adaptation become plausible? The Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook 2024 provides a unique systematic and global assessment of the context conditions for sustainable climate change adaptation, evaluating the social dynamics of deep decarbonization and the physical dynamics in regional climate variability and extremes. Through nine case studies across the globe, the assessment provides insights into key barriers and opportunities for sustainable climate change adaptation.

Anita Engels, born in 1969, has dedicated almost her entire sociological work to analyzing the complex relations of climate change and society. After master and doctoral studies at Universität Bielefeld, she moved to Universität Hamburg where she became full professor in 2009. Her research focuses on the role of companies in climate change, and on the local governance level, including real world labs and public and stakeholder participation.
Jochem Marotzke, born in 1959, is a director at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, where he heads the department »Climate Variability«. He contributed to the 5th and 6th assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as coordinating lead author. He is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the German Academy of Science and Engineering acatech. In 2009, he was awarded the Fridtjof Nansen Medal of the European Geosciences Association.
Beate Ratter, born in 1962, is a geographer dedicated to studying, understanding and enhancing human-nature-interaction in a transdisciplinary way. She holds a professorship at Universität Hamburg for Integrated Geography and jointly heads the Department of Human Dimensions of Coastal Areas at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon. She contributed to the IPCC »Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC)« as a lead author and was granted the UNESCO chair on »Societal climate change research and resilience«.
Eduardo Gonçalves Gresse, born in 1986, is a senior researcher at the cluster of excellence »Climate, Climatic Change, and Society« (CLICCS) at Universität Hamburg. He holds a PhD in Sociology from Universität Hamburg, Germany, master's degree in Political Science (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany) and bachelor degree in International Relations (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, Brazil). His research interests include sustainability governance, social change, and sustainable climate adaptation.
Andrés López-Rivera, born in 1988, is a postdoctoral researcher at the cluster of excellence »Climate, Climatic Change, and Society« (CLICCS) at Universität Hamburg. The political scientist did his doctorate at Universität Duisburg-Essen and the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies. His research focuses the knowledge politics of global climate governance.
Anna Pagnone, born in 1990, is a postdoctoral researcher at the cluster of excellence »Climate, Climatic Change, and Society« (CLICCS) at Universität Hamburg. The environmental physicist did her doctorate at Universität Bremen and at the Alfred-Wegener-Institut. Her work focuses on interdisciplinary research on climate change and on science-art collaborations.
Jan Wilkens, born in 1986, is a senior researcher at the cluster of excellence »Climate, Climatic Change, and Society« (CLICCS) at Universität Hamburg. He holds a PhD in Political Science from Universität Hamburg, Germany, an MSc in Middle East Politics (School of Oriental and African Studies, London). He conducts research on climate justice, energy transition, and climate governance in the Middle East.