The new ‘Environment’ cluster includes all sub-projects working at larger regional to inter-regional and global scales that relate to the physical environment, the evolution of biota as adaptation to aridity and climate variability. On a temporal scale, it encompasses changes in the evolutionary adaptations of biota to increasing aridity and the evolution of landscapes and paleoclimate on geological timescales of millions of years. In addition, this cluster also includes sub-projects which use modelling to verify and upscale findings from the first two funding periods.

For the 3rd funding period the CRC encompasses 18 research sub-projects allocated into the three new research clusters Environment, Landscape and Critical Zone. The research is coordinated and supported by six sub-projects in the Z-cluster. To more easily monitor the development of subprojects through all funding phases of the CRC, the established labels of the subprojects were kept. Two new sub-projects (L01, CZ02) will enter the cluster for phase three while five sub-projects of the 2nd funding period are either merged or terminated.