Jürg Luterbacher

Prof. Jürg Luterbacher is an internationally recognized authority on weather, climate, water, and environmental sciences, with a career distinguished by interdisciplinary research and global leadership. He is currently Professor of Climate Change, Climatology, and Climate Dynamics at Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany.

Previously, he served as Director of Science and Innovation and Chief Scientist at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), where he oversaw the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), the World Weather Research Programme (WWRP), and the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW). In this role, he advanced WMO’s long-term scientific strategy Advance Targeted Research and promoted the Earth System approach.

A former elected member of the Scientific Advisory Board to the UN Secretary-General António Guterres and currently serving on several scientific advisory boards, he contributes strategic guidance at the interface of science, policy, and practice. His work emphasizes global collaboration, capacity building, and science–policy dialogue to strengthen resilience and drive sustainable solutions to climate challenges.

In addition, he serves as a Scientific Advisory Board Member of the Horizon Europe project Digital Twin of the Earth System for Cryosphere, Land Surface and Related Interactions and as a member of the Nature Commission on Environment, Brain, and Mental Health, he leads the work on climate change, extremes, and the environment. He is on the Board of Directors of the Climate and Water Initiative (non-profit organisation, www.climate-water.org)

He is a leading member of the Athens Transition Coalition, as well as contributing to the Athens Declaration and the Global Carbon Dioxide Removal Action Network (CDRANet), and serves as Co-Chair of the Association for Trans-Eurasia Exchange and Silk Road Civilization Development (ATES). He is a member of the Akademy of Science and Literature, Mainz, Germany. In addition, he is an elected Meritorious Member of the International Community (Koinon) of Academies, elected by the Board of Directors and the Academy of Athens, Greece.

Prof. Luterbacher has authored over 220 peer-reviewed publications, contributed as a Lead Author to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) chapter 5 “Information from Paleoclimate Archives”. He has received recognition as the Thompson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher in the field of Geosciences.

He holds a Diploma in Geography, a PhD, and a Habilitation in Climate Sciences from the University of Bern, Switzerland.