Next to steep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere is essential to keep average global temperature increases to 1.5°C, and well below 2°C. At this point in time, there is effectively only one realistic and sustainable way to help remove large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere: restoring degraded forests. A strong and reliable governance framework is a pre-condition to restore degraded forests at the necessary scale. A new Ecologic paper discusses how to design such a governance framework for the EU. The paper is available for download.

Lehmann, Karl, Melanie Kemper 2017: Website-Konzept für die Fördermaßnahme "Plastik in der Umwelt" www.bmbf-plastik.de. Berlin, unpublished.

Kemper, Melanie, Georg Lamberty, Falko Wagner 2017: Informationsplattform Gewässerrenaturierung – Website Konzept, Berlin, September 2017, unpublished.

'Protecting the natural environment is part of our responsibility for future generations' – this is the environmental policy guiding principle of the coalition agreement of Merkel's third cabinet. Has the Federal Government made environmental protection its guiding principle in the last four years? The answer: there is light and shadow. More light in international environmental policy and more shade at home. There have been some important achievements, but in the last four years none of the negative environmental trends have been stopped or even reversed. All in all far too little – as Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf finds in this opinion paper.

As part of a project to structure the energy law, Ecologic Institute contributed to a working paper on improved disclosure of subsidized electricity from renewable energy sources in electricity labelling. In this paper, criticisms of the regulations on the disclosure of EEG electricity in electricity labeling are evaluated and proposals for further development are presented. The discussion paper is available for download.

Kemper, Melanie 2017: MinFuture Web Platform Concept – www.minfuture.eu – Milestone MS8, Berlin, August 2017, unpublished.

Kemper, Melanie, Chiara Mazzetti 2017: MinFuture Guidance documentation for dissemination and communication, D6.2. Berlin, unpublished.

A new note by the Ecologic Institute summarizes why a quantitative, binding and ambitious EU long-term climate target is essential for the EU to meet its obligations under the Paris Agreement. This long term target should be supported by a robust review mechanism. The note is available for download.

Kemper, Melanie, Karl Lehmann, Saraniya Nageswaran 2017: Kommunikationskonzept "Wangeliner Workcamps – eine grüne Idee von Zukunft". Berlin, unpublished.

Kemper, Melanie et al. 2016: Konzept für die Website der Wangeliner Workcamps – www.wangeliner-workcamp.de, Berlin, November 2016, unpublished.

This paper presents a collection of six essays, in which climate policy experts express the different views on the EU crisis from Berlin, Brussels, Budapest, Lisbon, London and Warsaw. The paper is available for download.

The Brexit, migration, the Euro crisis, continued economic malaise, and the rise of EU-sceptical parties and nationalist sentiment across Europe – the European Union (EU) is in turbulence. In a new paper Ecologic Institute analyses how the concurrent crises could affect EU climate and energy policy. The paper is available for download.

The Paris Agreement requires Parties to scale up their commitments every five years, i.e., with each consecutive "nationally determined contribution" (NDC). The recent proposal of the EU Commission for an Effort Sharing Regulation is essential for the EU to meet this obligation. The proposal, however, does not support adequately continuous scaling up of the EU greenhouse gas reduction targets. A new paper from Ecologic Institute discusses ways in which the Effort Sharing Regulation could support the scaling up of EU climate targets. The paper is available for download.

Ecologic paper discusses potential implications of TTIP on the (re-)municipalisation of energy services and community power projects.

On 20 July 2016 the European Commission published its legislative proposal for an Effort Sharing Regulation. A paper from Ecologic Institute provides comments on the Commission's proposal. The comments are available for download.