Prof. Dr. (mult.) Dr. h.c. (mult.) Walter Leal, Head of the Research and Transfer Centre for Sustainability and Climate Impact Management at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg), has been included in Clarivate's prestigious list of Highly Cited Researchers 2025. The annually published list honours scientists whose publications have been among the most cited in their field over the past eleven years and thus have a particularly high impact on international research.
Prof. Leal is thus one of the world's leading minds in sustainability and climate impact research. Active in the field of environmental management since 1987, he is now responsible for more than 1,000 scientific publications, including 196 books. He is the initiator of the International Climate Change Information Programme (ICCIP), editor of numerous specialist publications and acts as review editor for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). With the Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, a major editorial project comprising 17 volumes and over 2,300 authors, he has set new standards in the scientific debate on global sustainability goals. Due to his many activities for climate protection and his numerous publications, the Reuters agency selected Prof. Leal as one of the 1,000 most important climate researchers worldwide in 2020.
Recognition for long-standing and interdisciplinary research work
‘The inclusion of Prof. Leal in the Clarivate list is an outstanding recognition of his long-standing and interdisciplinary research work,’ says Prof. Dr. Peter Wulf, Vice President for Research and Transfer at HAW Hamburg. ‘His commitment to sustainable development and climate protection not only shapes the scientific landscape, but also influences the social debate. We are proud to have such an internationally renowned researcher in our ranks.’
The selection of ‘Highly Cited Researchers’ is based on a comprehensive analysis of citation data from the Web of Science Core Collection. In addition to the frequency of citations, qualitative assessments and expert opinions are also included in the selection process, which is carried out by Clarivate Analytics. The complete list is available at the following link: https://clarivate.com/highly-cited-researchers/
