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Although pharmaceuticals are indispensable for public healthcare, their environmental impacts are rarely considered during prescribing or dispensing. A newly developed Environmental Pharmaceutical Index (EPI) aims to integrate environmental information systematically into pharmaceutical and medical decision-making. The objective is to balance therapeutical needs and environmental impacts by supporting the selection of therapeutically equivalent medicines with lower environmental impacts without compromising patient care.

Environmental Pharmaceutical Index – a practical information, classification and dissemination system for medication in Germany

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The European Commission’s proposed Omnibus Simplification Package aims to streamline the authorisation of pesticides and reduce regulatory burdens within the European Union. However, a new Policy Forum article published in Science argues that the proposal could significantly weaken environmental risk assessment procedures and increase risks to biodiversity and human health. According to the authors, the current EU pesticide framework already contains important gaps, including insufficient consideration of impacts on many non-target organisms, cumulative effects of multiple pesticides, and sublethal ecological impacts. Rather than addressing these shortcomings, the Omnibus proposal may exacerbate them.

EU Omnibus Proposal Increases Pesticide Risks

More efficient environmental risk assessment and stronger protection are achievable

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In this article Dr. Stephan Sina provides an overview of the key provisions of the Directive, with a focus on water protection offences, and examines, based on the planned implementation in Germany, the extent to which the Directive facilitates the prosecution of water crime. This is also of interest to Switzerland, as the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Crime Law, adopted in 2025, is modelled on the Directive.

Die EU-Umweltstrafrechtsrichtlinie: Der Schlüssel zur konsequenten Verfolgung von Wasserkriminalität?

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A new Roundtable published by The Nature of Cities asks a central question for the planning and implementation of nature-based solutions: whose voices shape decisions, and who remains unheard? Curated by McKenna Davis of Ecologic Institute and Natalia Andrea Burgos Cuevas of the IUCN, the Roundtable brings together 29 contributors from around the world to reflect on what meaningful inclusion, co-creation and environmental justice can look like in practice.

Whose Voices Shape and Make Decisions in Nbs, and Who Doesn’t Get Included?

What could real inclusion look like in practice?

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To assess current knowledge and identify future research priorities, approximately 40 experts from academia, policy institutions, and the science–policy interface convened in Berlin in September 2025 for an international workshop on the Arctic land–ocean carbon cycle. The outcomes of these discussions have now been published in a meeting summary co-authored by Arne Riedel Escobar of Ecologic Institute, providing a roadmap for future research and policy engagement.

Research Priorities for the Coupled Arctic Land–Ocean Carbon Cycle

Integrating Scientific and Policy Perspectives

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Nature-based solutions (NbS) at the landscape scale are increasingly recognised for their role in supporting biodiversity, enhancing ecological connectivity and contributing to climate change adaptation. However, their assessment and implementation remain complex. This article examines these challenges using the concept of pondscapes – networks of ponds and their surrounding terrestrial habitats – as a case for landscape-scale NbS.

Challenges for Assessing and Implementing Nature-based Solutions at Landscape-scale

Insights from project on ponds and pondscapes

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This article examines how innovations in stakeholder engagement can contribute to sustainability transitions in water governance. Based on a systematic review of 61 studies, the paper shows that engagement approaches take diverse forms and often combine multiple governance modes. Public authorities frequently act as initiators, while civil society actors play a central role in many cases.

Innovations for Stakeholder Engagement in Water Governance

A Systematic Literature Review From a Sustainability Transition Perspective

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Drawing on structured expert workshops across Europe, this study identifies key scientific, governance, and socio-economic conditions for making MPAs “climate-ready”. The findings highlight that resilient MPAs must be ecologically robust, socially inclusive, supported by coherent governance frameworks, and adaptable to changing ocean conditions.

Towards Climate-ready Marine Protected Areas

Challenges and strategic pathways

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Myanmar is a global biodiversity hotspot, home to over 570 freshwater fish species and many endemics. Yet its rivers face mounting pressure from pollution, land-use change and declining water quality. This study co-authored by Ecologic Institute's Dr. Benjamin Kupilas offers novel insights into how tropical fish communities respond to these stresses.

Weak Effects From Human Impact on Composition and Trophic Structure of Fish Communities in a Tropical Lowland River System

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This paper analyses the European Union's (EU) policy framework, alongside international and regional agreements relevant to wetland conservation and restoration, focusing on coastal ecosystems. Drawing on policy content analysis, it assesses how 36 EU policies and multilateral agreements support or limit coastal wetland restoration and conservation efforts in Europe.

Restoring European Coastal Wetlands for Climate and Biodiversity

Do EU Policies and International Agreements Support Restoration?

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Aquatic insects that emerge from streams are a crucial energy subsidy for riparian predators such as spiders. When streams are disturbed by human activities, these impacts can cross ecosystem boundaries, disrupting aquatic–terrestrial food web connectivity. This study, co-authored by Dr. Benjamin Kupilas from Ecologic Institute together with international partners, explores how such connections function and how they are shaped by human disturbance.

Fatty Acid Biomarkers Reveal Landscape Influences on Linkages between Aquatic and Terrestrial Food Webs

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Anthropogenic litter poses a growing threat to aquatic ecosystems worldwide. While the EU's Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) addresses this pollution as an environmental status indicator, the Water Framework Directive (WFD) lacks such a measure.The publication, jointly authored by researchers from the European Plastic Pirates initiative, illustrates how citizen science can address this issue by using existing litter data from related initiatives. Members of the author team included Doris Knoblauch and Mandy Hinzmann from the Ecologic Institute.

Public Participation in EU Legislation?

Recommendations for Involving Citizen Scientists in Anthropogenic Litter Research Within the Water Framework Directive

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Cover of a publication from 'Cambridge Prisms' titled 'Plastics.' The cover features a gradient background transitioning from deep red to blue, with white lines cutting across the lower half. The title 'Plastics' is displayed in simple white text.
To enable a genuine shift toward a circular plastic economy, the UN plastics treaty must confront two critical structural barriers: fossil fuel and plastic production subsidies, and the failure to internalize the true societal and environmental costs of plastic. Without addressing these root causes, efforts to end plastic pollution risk falling short, the authors of this article argue. Among them Ecologic Institute's Doris Knoblauch.

A Circular Plastic Economy Should Account for all Societal Costs

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Under the EU’s Governance Regulation, Member States are legally required to hold multilevel climate and energy dialogues (MLCEDs), structured spaces for deliberation between governments, civil society, and other stakeholders. In the Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law (RECIEL), Ricarda Faber (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH), Deyana Kocher, and Matthias Duwe (Ecologic Institute) offer an assessment of how Member States are implementing these dialogues under Article 11.

Meaningful Participatory Climate Governance

Lessons from EU multilevel climate and energy dialogues

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