In a three-day series of events in Brussels from 5 to 7 December 2023, partners from the Kopernikus project Ariadne present important findings from their work that are relevant for the further development of EU climate and energy policy. They discuss these with representatives from political institutions, science, civil society and business. Participants can look forward to a varied program with workshops on current topics such as the future electricity market design, challenges of the energy transition, improvement of the EU governance mechanism, the role of household surveys in climate policy or the integration of negative emissions into the ETS.
Nature-based solutions (NbS) are widely recognized for their potential to transform urban spaces into sustainable and environmentally friendly environments. Yet open questions remain around how this can be done in practice, what role different stakeholders can play, and what key challenges and opportunities exist. These topics were explored in the science-policy symposium "Regreening Cities with Nature-based solutions in EU and China – Bridging Science, Policy, and Practice". Ecologic Institute's McKenna Davis presented insights from the INTERLACE project on a panel in the session "Enabling Transformation in Urban areas with Nature Based Solutions".
On 13 November 2023, Hugh McDonald presented the recently published report "Pricing Agricultural Emissions and Rewarding Climate Action in the Agri-food Value Chain" to the Directorate-General for Climate Action.
On 13 November 2023, Hugh McDonald and Julia Bognar (IEEP) presented the recently published report "Pricing Agricultural Emissions and Rewarding Climate Action in the Agri-food Value Chain" to the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development's Civil Dialogue Group on Environment and Climate Change.
The European Regions Research and Innovation Network's (ERRIN) Blue Economy Working Group held a hybrid meeting entitled "Water issues in the era of climate change" on 5 October 2023. McKenna Davis, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute and Coordinator of Nature-based Solutions, was invited to hold the keynote presentation to set the scene. Her contribution – entitled "Nature-based solutions in European policy: A framework for enhancing local action" – introduced the variety of nature-based solutions available for water management, current research focusing on these solutions (including the Ecologic-led NICHES project), the surrounding EU policy framework, and examples of enabling local policy instruments from the Urban Governance Atlas.
This year's biggest European peatland symposium will examine the scientific, management and policy aspects of peatland restoration and conservation. Register now if you want to be part of the "Power to the Peatlands" conference in September 2023 (Belgium).
ECNO's first annual flagship report on the EU's progress to net zero was presented on 26 June 2023 at the official Brussels launch of the initiative. The report is based on a vision of a climate neutral future composed of 13 essential sectoral and horizontal net-zero "building blocks".
On 14 June 2023, Aaron Scheid presented policy models for linking a reward system for carbon removals in the land sector with the AgETS. Five models were presented as part of the study "Pricing Agricultural Emissions and Rewarding Climate Action in the Agri-food Value Chain", which was developed for DG CLIMA at the time and formed the basis for the panel discussion.
At the NetworkNature Annual Event held on 8 June 2023 at the Flagey Building in Brussels (Belgium) participants gathered to explore the transformative potential of Nature-based Solutions (NBS) across sectors and communities. One noteworthy panel discussion included Natalia Burgos, representing the INTERLACE project, alongside representatives from the European Commission, the European Environmental Bureau, and the German Environment Agency.
On 8 June 2023, the "Stakeholder Consultation on the CoR Opinion on Towards a Multilevel Green Deal Governance: The Revision of the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action Regulation" was held. The event was organized by the Committee of the Regions (CoR) to gather the opinion of various stakeholders on the multilevel governance of the Green Deal and the revision of the Energy Union and Climate Action Regulation. Matthias Duwe contributed his insights and suggestions regarding the Green Deal and the governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action.
At the Expert Hearing in the European Parliament on "Sustainable management of water and resources in agriculture" on 25 April 2023, Dr. Ulf Stein, Senior Fellow of Ecologic Institute and Coordinator of the Water Studies, was invited as one of four experts. The aim of the event was to speak on the relationship between agriculture and water management in the context of the increasing scarcity of water resources due to climate change. The talk aimed to explore best practices and policy options that can help manage agriculture's impact on water resources, as well as address challenges to agriculture due to weather events such as droughts and floods.
Carbon farming promises to mitigate climate change whilst generating income for farmers – but can this promise be realised, and what are the risks? The European Parliament’s Environment and Agricultural Committees held a joint hearing to understand how EU policy can support on-farm carbon sequestration. The hearing featured two panels, including a presentation from Ecologic Institute Fellow Hugh McDonald on the challenges of carbon farming certification.
What progress has been made on European Green Deal implementation? How resilient will it be in the face of changes to the political balance of power resulting from the 2024 European elections? The IEEP's Green Deal Barometer survey is back for its third edition, and needs your help to answer these questions.
The EU Commission is planning an initiative on tackling the issue of non-intentional inputs of microplastics into the environment. The areas of textile fibres, tire abrasion, and pellet loss are specifically discussed at the EU level as part of the initiative.
Building on the momentum created by the negotiations on the Nature Restoration Regulation (NRL) as well as by the overall successful outcome of the biodiversity summit COP15, the think tank network "Think Sustainable Europe" (TSE) met with EU Environment Commissioner Sinkevičius. As part of TSE, Ecologic Institute presented key recommendations on the NRL. These build on a series of policy briefs by Ecologic Institute and IEEP respectively, and were well received and aroused great interest both in the EU Commission and the European Parliament.