Investor protection and arbitration courts may be the most controversial topics during the present TTIP negotiations. In light of this public debate, the European Commission presented its first proposal for the reform of TTIP investor protection in May 2015. The proposal includes broad reforms concerning the allocation of arbitration courts as well as the challenge of arbitral awards. Further proposals have been made by the European Parliament in July 2015. In spring 2015, social democratic ministers from different EU countries brought a permanent international court house for investment disputes up for discussion. A reform of the international investment protection regime has already been in discussion for some time. The EU Commission plans to present a concrete proposal for the ISDS reform in the coming weeks.

Ecologic Institute welcomes twenty climate scholars from the Alexander von Humboldt foundation on their study tour "Knowledge Transfer for Effective Climate Protection Policies". During their tour the scholars will visit different institutions working in the field of climate change, such as the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) and the Federal Environmental Agency (UBA).

Several recent regional trade agreements (RTAs) include provisions on clean energy and on climate action. They may take the form of concrete commitments of reductions of tariffs or non-tariff barriers, or of commitments on institutional collaboration. Many RTAs also contain institutional provisions which are also of relevance to the implementation of existing environmental, including climate-related, commitments. As such, they constitute important opportunities for trade policy to contribute concretely and positively to a scale-up of clean energy and foster climate action.

In the "Oslo Principles on Global Climate Change Obligations," a group of high-level lawyers and philosophers addresses obligations of States and enterprises to avert the critical level of climate change – irrespective of already existing obligations resulting from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or a (potential) follow-up agreement to the Kyoto Protocol. The group argues that existing legal sources including human rights law, environmental law and tort law oblige states to take measures leading to drastic emissions reductions that ensure that the global temperature increase does not exceed pre-industrial temperatures by more than 2°C.

The third expert workshop of the discussion series "Improving climate protection – for Paris and beyond" dealt with the topic "Conditional INDCs – A new and unknown element of the Paris-System." The event took place on 9 September 2015 in Berlin.

The Canadian province of Alberta is well-known for being the home of the country’s current Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, and the infamous tar sands. The traditionally conservative province has been criticized for its contribution to climate change. Binnu Jeyakumar, Consulting Advisor at Pembina Institute, led a discussion on this topic at Ecologic Institute. The seminar focused on the current political change in Alberta and its implications for the province’s involvement in the fight against climate change.

The second expert workshop of the discussion series “Improving climate protection – for Paris and beyond” dealt with the topic “National mitigation commitments and MRV – The political relevance of technical rules”. The event took place on 23 June 2015in Berlin.

On 29 April 2015, Ecologic Institute US and the Guarini Center on Environmental, Energy and Land Use Law at New York University School of Law hosted a discussion about the German Energiewende (Energy Transition). The event provided an opportunity for participants to speak with experts with first-hand insight into the Energiewende and the lessons it may hold for policymakers in New York State, currently pursuing their own comprehensive energy reforms. A summary and a video of the discussion are available for download.

The first Trade Night, held at Ecologic Institute, focused on the environment-related provisions of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), a bilateral trade and investment agreement negotiated between Canada and the EU. Trade Nights are a regular series of events convened by Ecologic Institute that provide a forum for the trade community in Berlin to discuss current trade policy issues in an informal setting.

The first expert workshop of the discussion series "Improving climate protection – for Paris and beyond" dealt with the topic "Paris 2015 – Signals for non-state actors?" The event took place on 15 April 2015 in Berlin.

On 27 February 2015, experts from Germany and the United States joined in Washington, D.C. at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to discuss their work as it related to the conference theme, The Geopolitics of Energy. This conference was sponsored by the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at Johns Hopkins University with participation by Ecologic Institute Berlin.

On 22 January 2015, R. Andreas Kraemer presented the 2014 Global Go To Index Report of the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, the University of Pennsylvania ((TTCSP). TTCSP launched its 2014 Report in the USA at the same day. Simultaneously, more than 50 global partners implemented local events to present the report in the national language and to discuss it with leading think tank representatives in a regional context.

The Arctic Climate Change Emerging Leaders Fellowship (ACCEL), Barents Regional Youth Council, Emerging Leaders in Environmental and Energy Policy Network (ELEEP), Reykjavik University, and Youth Arctic Coalition convened a workshop as well as a question and answer session with Admiral Robert J. Papp, U.S. Special Representative for the Arctic and the top U.S. Government Arctic official. The session took place at the 2014 Arctic Circle Assembly on 31 October 2014. A video of the event is available online.

On 13 October 2014, the first in a series of discussions covering different aspects of Arctic science and policy during the Canadian chairmanship of the Arctic Council was held at the Embassy of Canada. Ecologic Institute plays an active role in organizing the series in partnership with the Embassy of Canada, Berlin, International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), Alfred-Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), and Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS).