Biomass constitutes an important but limited renewable energy source for the future. In this article, Timo Kaphengst discusses sustainability aspects of biomass use for bioenergy in the European context. The article is available for download.

Germany has a very good record on water services. Despite high connection rates and almost full cost recovery, the total annual costs for consumers are at the same level or even cheaper than in other countries. This is an outcome of the specific way in which water management is organised in Germany. This contribution by R. Andreas Kraemer, Britta Pielen and Colette de Roo endeavours to explain the practice of municipal enterprises embedded in Germany’s federal structures, the levels of water services, and reveals why water services can be as good and as cheap as they are.

In their recent article, Dr. Camilla Bausch and Michael Mehling, analyse the main negotiation and discussion tracks under the United Nations for the further evolution of the international climate regime beyond 2012.

Since the signing of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, climate protection and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions are binding targets for many countries. However, total global emissions have not reached intended targets, indicated by the continued increase in CO2, which is the most significant greenhouse gas. In 2006 total global CO2 emissions reached 29 Billion tonnes, representing a 2.6% increase over the preceding year and an increase of nearly a third from 1990. In his report, Dr. Hans-Joachim Ziesing, Senior Policy Advisor at Ecologic, presents the development of emissions in the EU and proposes a common implementation of climate protection targets to insure the EU's leading role in climate protection.

The role of renewable energy is increasing globally. Renewable energy sources are supposed to meet half of Germany's energy demand by 2050. In this article, the authors provide an overview on current developments in the law for renewable energy.

The Open Method of Coordination has so far mostly been applied in areas in which the EU has weak legislative competencies. Recently, however, several OMC-type mechanisms have emerged in the environmental field, where the EU has a significant legislative role. In this article, Ingmar von Homeyer discusses two environmental OMCs: the environmental dimension of the Lisbon Strategy and the Common Implementation Strategy of the Water Framework Directive.

While trade sustainability impact assessments (trade SIAs) have generated much useful information about the potential impacts of trade liberalisation, they have made very limited impact on trade negotiations, which generate unresolved controversy, if not deadlock. This paper contends that one reason for this is that trade SIAs do not explicitly recognise the motives for countries to resist free trade.

The European Emissions Trading System is a central pillar of German climate policy. After its introduction in 2005, some weak points, however, became obvious so that great hopes were pinned on the National Allocation Plan for the second trading period (NAP II). In their article for DowJones TradeNews Emissions, Helen Lückge and Camilla Bausch discuss if the German NAP II fulfills its economic objectives.

In the end of 2005 the parties to the Kyoto Protocol convened to decide on a number of operational aspects of the international climate regime. More importantly, they also agreed to launch consultations on future mitigation commitments for the period after 2012, when the current "Kyoto targets" expire. Dr. Camilla Bausch and Michael Mehling analyse the outcome of the meeting in an article and discuss the summit’s significance as a first step in the further evolution of the international climate regime.

In this article Dr. Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf, Ecologic Senior Fellow, discusses the need for international environmental governance reform, the advantages and disadvantages of creating a United Nations Environment Organization (UNEO) and its potential in helping to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The article is available for download.

Contingent valuation studies and their results are often criticised. This paper describes the findings of an experimental survey that tests the influence of survey design on strategic behaviour.

Like environmental policy in general, water policy in particular is subject to constant change. In his article published in the journal Wasser und Abfall (Water and Waste), Peter Kessler describes the shift from an instrumental to an objective-oriented approach. While the water crisis in the Hessisches Ried was still mastered with the instrumental approach, the quality objectives of the German Länder Working Group on Water Issues (LAWA) and the water quality objectives of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) represent the quality objective orientation.

For the Russian government, the export of oil and gas is not just a good business deal. The gas conflict with Ukraine, with which the Russian leadership announced the new year and its G-8 presidency, showed that the Kremlin’s energy policy is at the core of its foreign policy – one that makes clear old power claims in the post-Soviet realm and beyond. Sascha Müller-Kraenner writes on east-west energy alliances in Kommune 1/2006. The article is available for download.

In Stuttgart on 29 November 2005, Baden-Württemberg‘s Ministry for the Environment held an Information Day on the IPPC Directive’s implementation in Germany and specifically in Baden-Württemberg. It has been concluded that the environmental protection standard in Germany presents a solid basis for compliance with the guidelines of the Directive, and that co-operation between public authorities and businesses is an essential prerequisite for practical implementation. Ulrich Maurer and Alexander Neubauer compiled the event’s findings.

The atmospheric CO2 content, which might increase more than two-fold by the end of the century, not only has an impact on the global climate, but also directly affects the water balance of the terrestrial biosphere. Anna Leipprand and Dr. Dieter Gerten from the Potsdam-Institute for Climate Impact Research published an article in the Hydrological Sciences Journal that analyses these impacts.