This article provides a stock-take of the state of the European Union's (EU) position heading into the climate change negotiations in Durban in late 2011. A long-time champion of an effective global system under the auspices of the UN, the EU finds itself in a difficult position as the future of the Kyoto Protocol is seen to being a stake at the summit in South Africa. With a number of other industrialised countries jumping ship and declaring their unwillingness to continue the Protocol in a Second Commitment Period, the EU is feeling ever more exposed and under pressure to declare for the continuation of Kyoto.

Technology transfer is an important part of ongoing efforts at climate change mitigation and adaptation, and a central issue in negotiations between developed and developing countries. In a German publication for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Christiane Gerstetter summarises the state of the debate prior to the Durban climate summit.

Over the last 40 years, Germany has retooled policies to promote more environmentally sustainable growth. Michael Mehling contributed to an article focusing on four case studies from Germany in the areas of energy, urban infrastructure, and transportation. The article identifies potential opportunities for policy transfer from Germany to the United States as well as barriers that may hinder such transfer.

This article published in Internationale Politik, Germany's leading foreign policy journal, explores the impact of Germany's phase-out of nuclear power on EU policies. Sascha Müller-Kraenner, a founder and policy advisor of Ecologic Institute, invites Germans to consider the impact of this policy on other EU Member States and sketches challenges for EU energy and climate policy. The article is available online.

Climate change, the finiteness of fossil fuels, national security, and job creation: there are many reasons to invest in renewable energy. In this article in the New York Times, Christoph H. Stefes, Senior Associate at Ecologic Institut, explains that investments in renewable energy are lacking due to the absence of a stable investment environment. The article is available online.

In this article, the authors provide for the first time a definition of the "Footprint Family" as a suite of indicators to track human pressure on our planet and under different angles. It builds on the premise that no single indicator per se is able to comprehensively monitor human impact on the environment, but indicators rather need to be used and interpreted jointly.

As part of the EU's efforts to define its role in Arctic management and decision making, the European Commission Directorate-General for the Environment funded the EU Arctic Footprint and Policy Assessment to determine its impact, responsibilities, and policy options to protect the Arctic. This article summarises the key findings from the study and presents an overview of the EU's Arctic footprint. The article is available for download.

How can philanthropists make informed and responsible choices when investing the endowment of their foundation? How can they avoid destroying with their investments what they seek to protect with their grants? R. Andreas Kraemer of Ecologic Institute makes concrete suggestions in his article in the summer 2011 Philanthropy Letter of the Fondation de Luxembourg.

The EU is a relative newcomer to Arctic policy and may appear to have limited options for influencing the future of the Arctic. However, all Arctic States and neighbouring countries, including the EU, have a stake in the health of Arctic ecosystems and communities, as well as the sustainable development of new sources of economic growth in this region. Sandra Cavalieri, Emily McGlynn and Susanah Stoessel from Ecologic Institute, along with co-authors Martin Bruckner (SERI), Timo Koivurova (Arctic Centre) and Annika E. Nilsson (Stockholm Environment Institute) present an overview of the EU's ecological footprint on the Arctic region, and suggest policy options to reduce negative impacts.

Together with co-authors Alexander de Sherbinin (Columbia University), Genevieve Carr (Northern Oil and Gas Branch, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada) and Carrie Rickwood (Natural Resources Canada) Tanja Srebotnjak, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, published a study in the journal Ecological Indicators on the design and testing of a global water quality index.

Dominic Marcellino, Fellow Ecologic Institute Washington, and Max Grünig, Fellow Ecologic Institute Berlin, published an article on cost recovery in line with the EU Water Framework Directive and related experiences in Germany. The text appeared in the March/April special edition of L’Acqua, an Italian journal for water issues. The paper builds off previous work done for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Emily McGlynn, Transatlantic Fellow at Ecologic Institute, regularly writes as a Policy Fellow at Americans for Energy Leadership, a Washington DC-based think tank. In the article "Arctic Oil and Gas: The Emerging Question" McGlynn discusses the latest developments in Arctic hydrocarbon exploitation and the need for improvements in both technology and regulation.

In this paper, Sascha Müller-Kraenner, one of the founders and a Partner of Ecologic Institute, investigates the nature of the European Union’s relations to third countries with regard to renewable sources of energy and the options available for further developing those relations in order to more effectively exploit the potential of renewable energy. While the EU has the potential to cover its electrical power needs from renewable sources alone, cooperation with third states in the use of renewable energy sources will play an important role – as can be seen in the large-scale Desertec project.

In this article, the online edition of IP Global, Germany's leading foreign policy magazine, Sascha Müller-Kraenner, Senior Policy Advisor of Ecologic Institute, looks at the outcomes of the COP 10 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) in Nagoya, Japan, and the reasons behind them. His analysis points to opportunities on the road ahead for the international climate negotiations beyond the UNFCCC COP 16 in Cancun, Mexico, at the end of 2010.

Under the title "Setting the Course for the Future, not Nursing a Hangover – After the Copenhagen Debacle, Europe Needs an Effective Strategy for Climate Negotiations", Sascha Müller-Kraenner, Senior Policy Advisor at the Ecologic Institute, suggests options for the future external climate policy of the European Union. The article (in German) is available exclusively online from Internationale Politik, Germany's leading foreign policy magazine.