Prof. (ETHZ) Dr Gerald Haug is one of Germany's leading scientists and top political advisors. He is Chairman of the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) and was President of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina for five years. Gerald Haug is known for actively engaging with the public and presenting his topics in an accessible and sustainable manner. He is a highly influential voice in his field. Gerald Haug (*1968) studied geology at the University of Karlsruhe and received his doctorate from the University of Kiel in 1995. He then worked as a scientist at the University of Southern California in the USA, among other places. In 2002, he habilitated at ETH Zurich and became a professor at the University of Potsdam and head of the Department of Climate Dynamics and Sediments at the German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam the following year. From 2007 to 2015, he was a full professor of climate geology at ETH Zurich. Since 2015, Gerald Haug has been Director of the Department of Climate Geochemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, a scientific member of the Max Planck Society and Full Professor of Climate Geochemistry at ETH Zurich. From 2020 to 2025, Gerald Haug was President of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, which advised the German government during the coronavirus crisis. At the beginning of 2026, he was appointed to the Federal Government's Sustainability Council by Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz. His work focuses on the question of how the climate has changed in the past. To this end, he examines sediment samples from oceans and lakes, which act as an archive of Earth's history. His studies have attracted worldwide attention. Haug looks into climate history and searches the past for the key to understanding the present. By reconstructing and interpreting past climate changes, he gains insights that are highly relevant for the future of humanity. He is particularly interested in researching the relationship between climate and society. Gerald Haug has received numerous awards for his work. These include the Leibniz Prize, worth 2.5 million euros, in 2007 and the Rössler Prize from ETH Zurich in 2010. He has been a member of the Academia Europaea since 2008, a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina since 2012 and a member of the Mainz Academy of Sciences and Literature since 2018. His ability to classify and explain developments and trends in society as a whole, and his thoughful contributions to debates, make Gerald Haug a much sought-after speaker.