Levermann received his PhD in theoretical physics in 2003, after which he started to work on climate dynamics at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Initially as a Postdoc with a scholarship of Gary-Comer-foundation, he became junior professor in 2006. Since October 2007, he has been a senior researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and a Professor of the Dynamics of the Climate System at Physics Institute of Potsdam University, Germany. His research focuses on tipping elements of the climate system and economic consequences of climate change.
Since 2012 he has been leading the research domain on sustainable solutions of the climate problem at Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, working together with PIK's chief-economist Prof. Ottmar Edenhofer. In some newspaper articles, e.g. in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and The Guardian, he hypothesized that there is a limit to the adaptive capacity of our current society. In a commentary in the scientific journal Nature, he therefore called for a publicly available information system to induce a "global adaptation" of our supply chains (www.zeean.netArchived 2021-02-08 at the Wayback Machine).
In August 2020, Levermann pointed out the urgency of the climate crisis and the need to transition to a completely emission-free economic system.[1] Herein he said: “When I started climate research we were at 0.6 degrees Celsius of global warming, now it's between 1.1 and 1.2 degrees. It really is a bit depressing that we have achieved so little even in the rich countries.” In a guest article in the Frankfurter Allgmeine Zeitung in July 2021 "The folding of the world", Levermann emphasized that sustainability must “be progress, not regression, if it is to serve people”. He suggested a new narrative for society in line with the folding principle in chaos theory which allows infinite growth in finite space. As a conceptual model, he referred to the mathematical principle of folding as a "growth into diversity" caused by limits instead of an expansion into infinity. The finiteness of resources and as well as space on land, in the ocean and in the atmosphere is to be seen as a basic principle: growth into diversity can be achieved by “generating a scarcity that leads to innovation if you allow it to evolve without further restrictions” – “in the language of economics: scarcity generates innovation". As an example, he named a decoupling of growth and emissions within the scope of the European emissions trading scheme. As a further example, he cited the fact that one could regulate the size of companies via fiscal incentive to regain the primacy of politics over the economy. In this idea it is central that the limits become part of the economic dynamics. Taxes as opposed to anti-trust agencies, would serve this goal and allow for the market and company strategies to decide which company size is optimal[2]
Marzeion & Levermann; "Loss of Cultural World Heritage and currently inhabited places to sea-level rise", Environmental Research Letters, 9 (2014), 034001.
Winkelmann, Levermann, Martin, Frieler; "Increased future ice discharge from Antarctica owing to higher snowfall", Nature 492 (2012), 239-242.
Levermann, Albrecht, Winkelmann, Martin, Haseloff, Joughin; "Kinematic first-order calving law implies potential for abrupt ice-shelf retreat", The Cryosphere 6 (2012), 273-286.
Levermann et al.; "Potential climatic transitions with profound impact on Europe - Review of the current state of six 'tipping elements of the climate system'", Climatic Change 110 (2012), 845-878.
