MERCATOR RESEARCH INSTITUTE ON GLOBAL COMMONS AND CLIMATE CHANGE (MCC) GGMBH

Their core work

MCC is a Berlin-based climate policy research institute that builds and applies integrated assessment models (IAMs) to map out pathways for decarbonizing economies while accounting for social equity and distributional effects. Their work sits at the intersection of climate economics, energy systems modelling, and policy analysis — translating complex model outputs into actionable guidance for governments and international negotiators. In recent years they have moved into the science of climate interventions: evaluating the risks, governance challenges, and feasibility of geoengineering approaches such as solar radiation management and carbon dioxide removal. They are not an engineering lab; their value is in quantitative scenario analysis and the policy frameworks needed to govern both conventional mitigation and emerging planetary-scale interventions.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

MCC entered H2020 through mainstream climate modelling — refining IAM tools to better capture sustainable development pathways, distributional fairness, and transformative societal change within conventional decarbonisation scenarios. Their second project marks a significant thematic turn: from modelling what societies should do to mitigate climate change, to analysing what happens if mitigation is insufficient and humanity turns to planetary-scale interventions like solar radiation management and CDR. This trajectory suggests the institute is tracking the frontier of climate science policy, moving from optimisation of known pathways toward governance of high-risk, contested interventions.

MCC is moving toward the most contested and policy-sensitive edge of climate science — geoengineering governance — which positions them as a likely partner for any future EU research on climate overshoot, CDR deployment, or international regulation of solar interventions.

How they like to work

MCC participates exclusively as a consortium partner in both recorded H2020 projects, never as coordinator, suggesting they contribute specialist analytical capacity rather than leading project management. With 21 unique partners across 15 countries from just 2 projects, they operate in large, internationally diverse consortia — consistent with the multi-modelling-team structure typical of IAM research networks. This points to an organisation comfortable contributing a well-defined modelling or policy analysis work package within a broader collaborative effort.

Despite only two projects, MCC has connected with 21 distinct partner organisations spanning 15 countries, indicating strong embeddedness in the European and global climate research community. Their participation in an ERC Synergy grant (GENIE) suggests they work alongside high-profile research groups selected for scientific excellence rather than just geographic balance.

What sets them apart

MCC occupies a rare niche as a research institute that bridges rigorous quantitative modelling (IAM) and explicit policy advice on climate governance — a combination that pure universities and pure think tanks rarely achieve at the same level. Their willingness to engage with geoengineering — a topic most policy institutes still avoid — signals intellectual independence and readiness to handle politically sensitive research questions. For consortium builders, this means MCC can contribute both technically credible scenario analysis and policy-facing interpretation, reducing the need for separate modelling and communications partners.

Highlights from their portfolio

• GENIE
  An ERC Synergy Grant running to 2027 with nearly €1.23M to MCC alone — the largest and most prestigious of their two projects, and one of the first EU-funded efforts to systematically evaluate geoengineering and negative-emission pathways together in a European policy context.
• NAVIGATE
  Part of a Horizon RIA consortium advancing the next generation of integrated assessment models, directly linking modelling improvements to real climate policy needs — a foundational project for the IAM community.