The German Federal Constitutional Court's decision of March 2021 declared the Climate Change Act partially unconstitutional because it did not sufficiently protect fundamental rights. While the Court upheld the Act's objective of climate neutrality by 2050 and emission budgets until 2030, it held that the Climate Change Act violated fundamental rights for the time after 2030: The specific emissions budgets until 2030 entailed that strict measures would likely be required after 2030 in order to achieve climate neutrality. The Climate Change Act failed to sufficiently address in advance how this would affect individual freedoms. Dr. Ralph Bodle and Dr. Stephan Sina provide an overview of the main findings of the decision as well as the ensuing amendments to the Climate Change Act, which were passed within just a few months after the decision and are subject to new constitutional challenges.

The emission of plastics into the environment is growing worldwide. Since existing regulations are not sufficient to curb the problem, the ever-increasing plastic production and use must be reduced overall. A systemic approach is needed that holds all actors responsible who produce, use, recycle, dispose and trade in plastic products and packaging. Policymakers must drive forward the necessary paradigm shift and facilitate a debate on sufficiency in society as a whole.

In an integrated global economy, trade policy and climate policy are closely intertwined. In this paper, Ecologic Institute's Dr. Michael Jakob adopts an interdisciplinary approach to provide an overview of the key debates in economics, political science, and legal studies related to globalization and climate change. He identifies a number of emerging issues that deserve increased attention in future research in this direction.

As Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues to take a heavy toll, the heads of state and government gathering in Versailles today and tomorrow (10-11 March 2022) will need to take actions that support Ukraine while also shoring up the bloc's own strategic autonomy from Moscow. The European Green Deal will be crucial for the success of this strategy. This op-ed, which is available online, explains why.

This introductory overview of international soil governance first outlines essential features of international governance by Dr. Ralph Bodle. At the international level, there is no overarching central or superior authority. Rules and other measures normally do not have direct effect at national level; they need to be implemented by their addressees. In contrast to other environmental topics, states have for a long time been reluctant to engage in soil governance at the international level. As a result, international soil governance is piecemeal and spread over parts of different institutions and processes, each of which has limitations. The Sustainable Development Goal “land degradation neutrality” on its own is not a comprehensive soil policy, but its forward-looking planning element in particular is a useful starting point for guiding national policies and further work. While binding rules are not an end in itself, new treaty obligations relating to soil protection could be useful to address gaps and shortcomings in current governance and focus international commitments. Climate change provides an opportunity to increase soil protection e.g. through the climate regime, but there are also risks if soil protection was pursued solely from a climate perspective.

The article reflects on the 59th Tutzing Symposion entitled "Polymers for a better life and circular economy" that took place as an online event in October 2021. Based on the presentations at the symposium, the contribution provides an overview of current debates on the circular plastics economy, as well as insights into existing political regulations, present challenges, and possible future developments with regard to this major societal project.

This article explores how (in)coherence in policies and responsibilities affects coordination at process and outcome level. It presents a rigorous comparative study of cross-sectoral coordination in six river basins worldwide. The authors, among them Ecologic Institute's Dr. Ulf Stein, observe that coherence can favor coordination at the process level, but it remains difficult to establish causality. Coherence of policies and responsibilities does not change the relationship between process-level and outcome-level coordination.

One of the top priorities of the German government is the establishment of a "climate club". However, this would be inadequate if it focused on border compensation. Rather, cooperative approaches are essential. In this opinion piece, Clara Brandi and Dr. Michael Jakob of Ecologic Institute weigh the problems and possibilities of designing a climate club.

Prof. Michael Mehling (Deputy Director, MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEPR)), and Dr. Camilla Bausch (Director, Ecologic Institute) were invited to contribute to the inaugural issue of the new journal "Klima und Recht" (Climate and Law). In their contribution, Mehling and Bausch provide an overview of the results of the Glasgow Climate Summit, covering not only formal decisions but also key initiatives and declarations announced at the Summit.

Natural gas and oil not only finance the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, they also lie at the heart of the problem: authoritarianism and a lack of democracy. Decarbonization is not only a climate policy necessity, but also an agenda for democracy and thus for peace, writes Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf in the Tagesspiegel.

The EU has not clarified the contribution of CO2 removals for achieving its climate goals. The Commission's communication on carbon cycles was an opportunity to provide more clarity. But it leaves important questions unanswered and chooses a wrong framing for future debates, writes Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf in the Tagesspiegel.

The transport sector plays a crucial role in achieving German, European and global climate targets. But policymakers are pursuing three goals with transport policy that cannot be reconciled. First, emissions in the transport sector are to be sharply reduced. Second, the transport policy framework is not to be fundamentally changed. Third, the financial burden on consumers resulting from a CO2 price is to be kept low. The German government now has the opportunity to embark on a mobility transition. However, this requires honestly dealing with trade-offs, Michael Jakob writes in the Tagesspiegel.

The future will increasingly be about hydrogen import security, writes Raffaele Piria in this article published in the Tagesspiegel. On the way to climate neutrality, the risk landscape will change fundamentally. Germany must prepare for this with determination and foresight - and make numerous trade-off decisions. In this article, Raffaele Piria describes three strategic legislative steps that should be taken to advance Germany's hydrogen import strategy.

Climate protection for 1.5 degrees calls for fundamental changes in many areas, but not in Germany's democracy. Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf discusses the relationship between climate protection and democracy in an article for the Tagesspiegel.

Citizens' councils are booming. Now, EU citizen panels have started. A first step has been taken, but it is still a long way to go for the EU Panels to be successful, write Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf from the Ecologic Institute and Felix Nasser from the German Bürgerrat Klima in the Tagesspiegel Background. They make three proposals how to turn the EU Citizens Panels into a success.