The EU has just updated its climate target for 2030 and most of the policy instruments in place to achieve it. Does this toolbox have all the items needed to achieve the shift to net-zero emissions by 2050? This discussion paper by Oeko-Institut and Ecologic Institute addresses and analyses the main pillars of the EU's climate policy identifies crunch issues on the path towards climate neutrality and offers potential solutions.

Almost one third of all packaging in Germany is so-called transport packaging, which becomes waste after its single use. Despite the factual relevance of this packaging group, it is strongly underrepresented in the public perception as well as in the political discourse. During the online expert dialogue "Reusable Transport Packaging" on 27 February 2023, good examples from practice were presented and potentials, challenges and necessary elements for the expansion of reusable transport packaging were discussed together with experts from trade, logistics industry, civil society and politics. The summary is available for download.

This document provides country specific information on key elements from the 22 national long-term climate strategies extracted for the cross-country analysis in table format. It allows for selection of specific criteria as well as for the selection of specific countries.

Indicators measuring progress towards climate neutrality must address the often structural, sectoral, and cross-sectoral changes implied by the transition, covering both the economic and social dimensions. To address this, Ecologic Institute developed this working document, testing an indicator framework for assessing the progress to climate neutrality by 2050. The document offers a glimpse at areas where developments are currently headed in the right direction or lagging behind.

In this brief, researchers from Ecologic Institute and Öko-Institut critically assess the Commission's 2022 proposal for Framework for Carbon Removals Certification as it applies to climate-friendly soil management. In particular, they evaluate whether Framework's so-called QU.A.L.ITY criteria (Quantification, Additionality, Long-term storage, Sustainability) are sufficient to ensure high quality soil carbon removals. The brief summarises the specific challenge posed by soil carbon sequestration, identifies problems with the current proposal, and makes recommendations for improvements. The brief is available for download.

This document summarizes the results of the project "The Future of the EU – Make Climate Action its Trademark".

As part of the "Private Households" dialog forum project, a fourth online dialog forum was held on December 1, 2022. The event focused on the Citizen Science project "Germany saves food!". This results report provides an overview of the core content of the presentations, the survey results and the discussion content. The results report is available for download.

Stephan Sina 2022: Stellungnahme zum Gesetzentwurf der Landesregierung für ein Hessisches Gesetz zur Förderung des Klimaschutzes und zur Anpassung an die Folgen des Klimawandels (Hessisches Klimagesetz - HKlimaG) – Drucks. 20/9276 –1. Berlin: Ecologic Institut.

This summary distils the insights from the technical report "Charting a Path to Net Zero: An assessment of national long-term strategies in the EU" commissioned by the European Climate Foundation and written by Ecologic Institute. It summarizes the key findings and recommendations from an assessment of 22 long-term strategies (LTSs) of EU Member States available as of March 2022. The summary and the full technical report are available for download.

On 9 May 2022, Europe Day, the Conference on the Future of Europe (CFE) closed – with the adoption of 49 recommendations. This is not the end of the process, but the beginning of new political action. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the role of the CFE as a starting point for renewed discussions on important topics such as climate, energy policy and EU democracy has been reiterated. Indeed, many recommendations from the CFE address EU climate policies – especially the ones prepared by its third citizens' panel on climate change, the environment and health. In this Ecologic Institute paper, Deyana Spasova questions how the panel's recommendations can improve EU climate policy? Where do the recommendations merely reiterate what is already in place? And how could the EU best translate the suggestions into policy action? The paper is available for download.

This document provides a summary of the online dialogue forum "Private Households", which took place on 31 May 2022. The focus of the event was the question of outreach: "How do we engage the broader society on the issue of food waste in Germany"? Over 90 participants from civil society, science, administration, and initiatives exchanged experiences with the Dialogue Forum team and three speakers, who had practical experience on reaching and addressing diverse target groups provided short keynotes on their lessons learned, practical experiences, and current projects.

The paper "Making EU Governance Fit for Net Zero" analyses the current landscape of climate policy governance against eight core parameters at EU level and for Member States, and identifies a number of remaining weaknesses. Improvements should address several key processes, such as updating of the NECPs in 2023-2024 and of national LTSs and the new progress and consistency assessments under the EU Climate Law.

Stephan Sina 2022: Stellungnahme zum Antrag der Fraktion BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN "Bekämpfung von Umweltkriminalität in NRW endlich stärken – Schwerpunktstaatsanwaltschaft und Koordinierungsstelle für NRW einrichten", Drucks. 17/14258. Berlin: Ecologic Institute.

Rural regions in Southeastern and Eastern Europe are facing multiple challenges such as a rural exodus, aging populations, a declining industrial base and low innovation performance. As such, they are particularly vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change. In response to this, stakeholders in the five BE-Rural regions developed bioeconomy strategies and roadmaps for enhanced rural development. This publication presents short summaries of the regional strategies and roadmaps focusing on the regional context in terms of available natural resources, the social, economic and political context, the strategy development process and the priorities outlined in the strategies.

Building on the kick-off event of the "Private Households" dialog forum held in June 2021, another dialog forum was held on 25 November 2021, focusing on the topic of impact. In addition to the goal of networking relevant practitioners and facilitating an exchange of experiences, this dialog forum focused on the effective and successful planning and implementation of measures against food waste. In this result documentation, you will find a summary of the reflection as well as figures of the survey results.