CLIMATE EXTREMES
EXTREME WEATHER
“INVALUABLE KNOWLEDGE TO HELP PREPARE FOR A WORLD WITH MORE EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS”
Why are heatwaves becoming hotter and more frequent? What’s driving the growing intensity of wildfires, floods, and storms around the world?
Climate Extremes: Extreme Weather explores these questions, presenting expert perspectives and ongoing scientific research on how a warming planet is disrupting weather patterns, and fueling more frequent and intense extreme events, from prolonged droughts to larger floods.
In Climate Extremes: Extreme Weather, global leading scientists explain the physical mechanisms behind these events, including rising temperatures and atmospheric moisture levels.
Featuring insights of pioneering scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, ETH Zürich and the University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources (UCANR), Climate Extremes: Extreme Weather lays out the science behind today’s evolving extreme weather phenomena, helping viewers understand why such events are rapidly becoming more common around the world.
WATCH ON
RATE ON
CLIMATE EXTREMES
AT THE ABYSS ?
“A COMPREHENSIVE EXPLORATION
INTO PLANETARY TIPPING POINTS
AND NON-LINEAR DYNAMICS”
ARE WE AT RISK OF CROSSING A PLANETARY TIPPING POINT?
Are we at risk of pushing the planet on a trajectory that would unstoppably drift away from a state that can support human life as we know it?
Climate Extremes delves into these pressing questions, presenting the scientific facts behind the Earth’s changing climate and the phenomena that could push us toward irreversible changes.
Featuring insights from climate scientists from leading institutions, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, European Center for Atmospheric Research, the film explores critical climate phenomena that influence the non-linearity of climate change such as melting ice sheets, ocean currents and feedback loops of the Earth system.
Through expert-driven discussions, Climate Extremes lays out the complex dynamics of planetary boundaries and tipping points, providing viewers with a deeper understanding of the forces shaping our climate.
WATCH & LISTEN
RATE ON
MEET THE EXPERTS
In Climate Extremes documentary series we feature world-renowned scientists and climate experts at the forefront of research on Earth's changing systems. Their expertise span a range of critical fields, from climate modeling and earth systems analysis to planetary boundaries. These experts bring decades of experience and groundbreaking discoveries to help us understand the complex mechanisms driving climate change and its tipping points.
Levke Caesar
Postdoctoral Researcher
Potsdam Institute For Climate Impact Research
A researcher on ocean circulation, Levke Caesar focuses on how shifts in ocean currents, particularly the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), influence global climate patterns.
Featured in: Climate Extremes
Nico Wunderling
Post-Doctoral Researcher
Potsdam Institute For Climate Impact Research
A climate scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Nico Wunderling is known for his work on tipping points in the climate system and the role of feedback loops in driving extreme global changes.
Featured in: Climate Extremes
Jonathan Donges
FutureLab Leader, Working Group Leader
Potsdam Institute For Climate Impact Research
Jonathan Donges is a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, exploring how complex network theory can help understand the interconnectedness of Earth systems and climate stability.
Featured in: Climate Extremes
Sina Loriani
Researcher, Earth System Analysis
Potsdam Institute For Climate Impact Research
A climate scientist specializing in computational modeling, Sina Loriani uses simulations to investigate tipping points and the dynamics of large-scale environmental changes.
Featured in: Climate Extremes
Reto Knutti
Chair, Centre for Climate Systems Modelling, Professor, Department of Environmental Systems Science
ETH Zürich
Knutti’s research topics include long term projections, scenarios, uncertainties in projections, climate model evaluation, extreme weather events, statistical learning and more.
He explores climate policy, economics, communication and sustainability, bridging the gap between research and societal action.
Featured in: Climate Extremes: Extreme Weather
Erich Fischer
Professor
The Department of Environmental Systems Science
ETH Zürich
Identified as a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher, Fischer’s research interests include climate and weather extremes, heavy precipitation events under climate change, heatwaves and heat stress impacts on human health, climate variability, climate projections and quantification of uncertainties, global and regional climate modelling and climate response to volcanic eruptions.
Featured in: Climate Extremes: Extreme Weather
Charles Godfray
Director, Oxford Martin School; Professor of Population Biology
University of Oxford
Professor Sir Charles Godfray is a population biologist with wide-ranging research interests in ecology, evolution, and food systems, with a particular focus on sustainable intensification and the relationship between food production, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. Knighted in 2017 for services to scientific research and policy, he chaired the Lead Expert Group of the UK Government's Foresight project on the Future of Food and Farming.
Featured in: Climate Extremes: Agriculture
Monika Zurek
Associate Professor and Group Leader
Food System Transformation Group, Environmental Change Institute
University of Oxford
Monika Zurek has spent over two decades working on food systems change and environment-development interactions across research, international organisations, consulting, and philanthropy. At the Environmental Change Institute, she leads the Food System Transformation Group and co-leads the Foresight4Food initiative.
Featured in: Climate Extremes: Agriculture
Paul Behrens
British Academy Global Professor
Oxford Martin School
University of Oxford
Paul Behrens is a sustainability scientist whose research focuses on the intersection of climate, energy, and food systems. He develops integrated models to assess the environmental and social impacts of food system transformation. His team won the 2023 International Frontiers Planet Prize for their work on the climate potential of dietary shifts. He is the author of the "The Best of Times, The Worst of Times" and co-author of the textbook "Food and Sustainability".
Featured in: Climate Extremes: Agriculture
Benjamin Bodirsky
Senior Scientist
Potsdam Institute of Climate
Impact Research
Benjamin Leon Bodirsky is an agricultural economist whose research explores long-term trajectories of global agriculture and the challenge of transforming food systems within planetary boundaries. He is one of the lead developers of MAgPIE, a globally recognised open-source land system modelling framework. His recent landmark study in Nature Food identified 23 levers for a sustainable food system transformation compatible with 1.5 degrees of warming.
Featured in: Climate Extremes: Agriculture
MEET THE CHANGEMAKERS
In Climate Extremes documentary series we feature changemakers across corporations and start-ups who are working to implement solutions on the ground to tackle effects of cliamte change, enabling adaptation and transformation.
Matthias Berninger
Executive Vice President
Public Affairs, Sustainability and Safety
Bayer AG
Matthias Berninger brings together experience in politics, industry, and science policy. He served four terms as a Member of the German Federal Parliament for the Green Party and as Vice-Minister for Agriculture and Consumer Protection. After leading global public affairs at Mars Incorporated, he joined Bayer in 2019, where he now oversees the company's sustainability strategy, including its commitments to decarbonising agriculture and improving food security for smallholder farmers worldwide.
Featured in: Climate Extremes: Agriculture
Shely Aronov
CEO and Co-Founder
InnerPlant
Shely Aronov is a serial entrepreneur with a background in engineering and an MBA from Stanford University. She co-founded InnerPlant in 2019, a seed technology company that engineers crops to communicate their needs to farmers through optical signals detectable from satellites and field equipment. Named a 2025 BloombergNEF Pioneer, InnerPlant's technology enables early detection of disease and stress, helping farmers reduce chemical use and protect yields in an era of escalating climate pressure.
Featured in: Climate Extremes: Agriculture
Jamie Balsillie
CEO and Co-Founder
Hedgehog
Jamie Balsillie leads Hedgehog’s efforts to transform mushroom farming through automation, robotics, and AI, aiming to increase efficiency, reduce labor costs, and scale sustainable food production. His approach integrates advanced technologies to optimize growing conditions and improve yield consistency.
With a background in computer science and economics, he was recognized in Forbes 30 Under 30 for his contributions to innovation. His work focuses on positioning mushrooms as a low-impact protein source by converting agricultural waste into nutritious food.
Featured in: Climate Extremes: Agriculture
FOLLOW US
