The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) was founded in 1992 and currently has a staff of about 320 people. PIK addresses crucial scientific questions in the fields of global change, climate impacts and sustainable development. Researchers from the natural and social sciences work together to generate interdisciplinary insights and to provide society with sound information for decision making. PIK is a member of the Leibniz Association and receives core funding of about 11 million euros from the German federal government and the Federal State of Brandenburg. A similar amount of additional project funding is raised from external sources in competition with other institutions, a large part coming from grant programmes of the European Union.