Book Section | Ecologic Institute: Science and Policy for a Sustainable World

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32 Gründe, warum Europa eine verdammt gute Idee ist

The EU Member States have committed to be climate neutral by the second half of this century. Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf calls this a fundamental challenge that no EU member state can address alone and that makes the EU indispensable for effective climate protection. This is one of 32 reasons why Europe is a "damn good idea". The eponymous book was published in the run-up to the 2019 European elections. It presents numerous achievements of the European Union in an understandable way, explains complex interrelationships and shows the positive effects of the EU for its citizens. Read more

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Cities

Soil

Land Take and Soil Sealing – Drivers, Trends and Policy (Legal) Instruments

Insights from European Cities

Urbanisation is an ongoing global trend that results in a considerable level of new land take and the loss of soil and its functions. This article reveals how different EU cities have addressed these issues through specific approaches with a focus on efficient land use. Lead by the Ecologic Institute, this analysis was carried out as part of the FP7 project "Preventing and Remediating Soil Degradation (RECARE)".Read more

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Climate

Governance

Decarbonization and EU ETS Reform: Introducing a Price Floor to Drive Low-carbon Investments

Edenhofer, Ottmar; Christian Flachsland and Lisa Katharina Schmid 2018: Decarbonization and EU ETS Reform: Introducing a Price Floor to Drive Low-carbon Investments . In: 12 Years of European Emissions Trading in German Stocktaking and perspectives for effective climate protection, 1. ed. Marburg: Michael Angrick, Christoph Kühleis, Jürgen Landgrebe, Jan Weiß.Read more

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Utilizing Urban Living Laboratories for Social Innovation

Can urban living labs support social and governance innovations and therewith contribute to sustainable urban planning? Can they serve as a tool to assist cities in adapting to new emerging challenges? This chapter of the Urban Planet book address these questions. The chapter introduces a brief history of urban living labs and the governance challenges they intend to address, and subsequently explores whether urban living labs hold potential as a new forum for urban governance innovation experiments to support positive transformative change. The open access chapter and book are available for download.Read more

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Trade

Ecologic Legal

Substance and Style – How the WTO Adjudicators Legitimize their Decisions

The dispute settlement mechanism of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is one of the most active international courts. How the WTO's adjudicators decide cases is the topic of a book chapter authored by Christiane Gerstetter, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute. The book, entiteld "The Judicialization of International Law: A Mixed Blessing?" is edited by Andreas Follesdal and Geir Ulfstein and published by Oxford University Press. It deals with the influence of decisions by international courts on international law.Read more

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Book Section

Adaptation

Climate

Analyzing the Policy Framework for Climate Change Adaptation

This book chapter explores how policies and policy-making perform to support climate change adaptation. It is part of the book: Adapting to Climate Change in Europe: Exploring Sustainable Pathways - From Local Measures to Wider Policies which is a scientific synthesis of a four-year project on adaptation activities in Europe (BASE). This book aims at ensuring sustainable solutions in adaptation to climate change. This chapter reflects on different tools which can support decision making for climate adaptation and that have been presented in other chapters of the book. It also discusses how current adaptation measures operate to enhance the capacity to respond to climate change impacts in a coherent manner across sectors. Ecologic Institute's Jenny Tröltzsch and Katriona McGlade contributed to this chapter.Read more

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The Diversity of Adaptation in a Multilevel Governance Setting

This book chapter provides an overview of climate change adaptation across Europe, from an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary perspective, drawing on key findings from case study-based research on local climate change impacts and adaptation solutions, including an analysis of participatory, economic, and sociopolitical approaches, methodologies, and tools. Ecologic Institute's Jenny Tröltzsch contributed to this chapter.Read more

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Soil

Ecologic Legal

Implementing Land Degradation Neutrality at National Level

Legal Instruments in Germany

In this chapter Ecologic Institute's Dr. Ralph Bodle analyses the legal instruments and regulatory approaches in German law for achieving land degradation neutrality (LDN). Section 1 outlines the conceptual components of LDN that the law has to address: preventing degradation, restoring degraded land, offsetting degradation at project level and land-use planning and management. Section 2 analyses which legal mechanisms German law provides to address all conceptual components of LDN. The assessment and conclusion in Sect. 3 argue that despite a range of legal provisions and instruments in German law that protect soil, the absence of an overarching holistic concept is a fundamental shortcoming also with regard to LDN.Read more

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Book Section

Soil

Implementing Land Degradation Neutrality (SDG 15.3) at National Level

General Approach, Indicator Selection and Experiences from Germany

In September 2015, the UN General Assembly adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including target 15.3, which aims to strive towards land degradation neutrality (LDN) by 2030. This has opened a "window of opportunity" for many countries to strengthen policies for sustainable use of land and soils. This chapter first outlines the concept, the main elements and the current international framework for assessing the progress towards SDG target 15.3. Ecologic Institute's authors propose a stepwise approach to further tailor national requirements with the overall goal of LDN implementation. Since both the concept of LDN and the internationally agreed implementation framework leave room for national interpretation, the example of Germany is used to illustrate how the implementation process can be set up at the national level and what experiences have been made.Read more

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Transatlantic Program

Arctic Summer College Yearbook

An Interdisciplinary Look into Arctic Sustainable Development

This book, edited by Ecologic Institute's Brendan O’Donnell, Max Gruenig, and Arne Riedel, highlights both the diversity of perspectives and approaches to Arctic research and the inherent interdisciplinary nature of studying and understanding this incomparable region. The chapters are divided into four liberally-defined sections to provide space for dynamic interpretation and dialogue in search of sustainable solutions to the issues facing the Arctic. From governance to technology, scientific research to social systems, human health to economic development, the authors discuss fundamental questions while looking toward the Arctic’s future. Whether the reader is well-versed in the history and complexity of Arctic policy or looking for an insightful introduction to the vast world of Arctic research, everyone will find answers that lead to new questions and even more discoveries in these pages, laying the foundation for tomorrow’s discussion on the future of the Arctic.Read more