This article introduces the German Federal Environment Agency's online information platform on river restoration. It was designed, compiled and implemented between 2017 and 2020 by Ecologic Institute, Planungsbüro Zumbroich and IGF Jena. The information platform provides basic knowledge on the restoration of rivers and serves to gain acceptance for restoration measures. It addresses towns and municipalities, water management authorities, water bodies associations, fishing associations and citizens' groups.

To combat the Corona Crisis, states are pushing their limits. Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf argues in the Tagesspiegel that this should not happen in climate policy. There is no "what-ever-it-takes-response" to stop the advanced climate crisis but only swift and continuous action now.

Scaling up climate smart soil management requires addressing a range of barriers, with one of the key barriers being the availability and access to the right kind of knowledge. A new report from Ecologic Institute, prepared under the CIRCASA project, shows the importance of empowering farmers and other stakeholders through effective knowledge creation and exchange.

Meyer-Ohlendorf, Nils 2020: Proposal for a European Climate Law – Suggestions for Amendments. Ecologic Institute: Berlin.

Meyer-Ohlendorf, Nils 2020: A European Climate Law. Analysis of the European Commission proposal. Ecologic Institute: Berlin.

The Ariadne project shows ways in which the climate goals can be achieved. The focus is on research for energy transition strategies, their systemic effects, and which sectoral interactions arise as a result. The project investigates policy instruments to help achieve climate goals in an efficient and socially balanced way. With the help of evidence-based assessments, the scientific basis for shaping the energy transition is to be expanded and any learning processes in politics and science are to be triggered.

As part of the ICARE-project (Interactions between international measures for Climate Action and Resource Efficiency), the present study aimed to investigate key findings on the climate-resource-nexus from literature and identify international measures for climate protection and resource conservation. The study then analysed these measures as regards (i.) possible interactions (synergies and trade-offs) between them and (ii.) their potential relevance and fit for different world regions.

Ecologic Institute is providing scientific support to the non-fiction youth book Plastik, Müll und Ich being written by children and youth author Gesine Grotrian. The book is aimed at answering the questions that young people have about plastics. It is published by Heinrich Böll Foundation.

A torn plastic bag on the riverbank or a yoghurt cup floating in the water are symptoms of serious interference with the highly complex system of seas, the ocean and flowing waterways. The Plastic Pirates – Go Europe! project focuses on this plastic waste problem and our future handling of it. It aims to familiarise young people with the general topic of the ocean and water cycles in the process. They will learn what it means to work scientifically – and try their hand at it.

The global community of think tank leaders is coming together for assistance and learning during the corona virus pandemic. R. Andreas Kraemer, Founder of Ecologic Institute, summarizes operational experience and focuses on the changing agenda for think tanks in these times of corona. The blog entry is part of a growing collection curated by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP) of the University of Pennsylvania.

In the European Union, hydropower represents an important component of a renewable energy transition, in part due to its existing infrastructure. A large share of future European hydropower projects will be run-of-the-river schemes. To understand the potential for RoR hydropower development and modernization of the technology as an opportunity for sustainable decentralization, this report uses the Q-methodology to compare public values about RoR hydropower in German, Portuguese and Swedish case studies.

While circular processes offer potential for small and large companies, such processes are not (yet) established across the board. For circular processes to be applied widespread, exchange between science and companies must be improved. As part of an national research project funding scheme on the sustainable economy, three workshops were dedicated to businesses and science actors to exchange information on sustainability innovations along value chains. This German paper summarises experiences made and lessons learned from these workshops.

Since December 2019, Ecologic Institute is a member of the PREVENT Waste Alliance. The alliance is a multi-stakeholder exchange and cooperation platform with more than 30 participant organisations from the private sector, academia and civil society, as well as government institutions. All participant organisations are involved in different aspects of waste management and circular economy across entire value chains, with particular focus on plastics and electronic waste.

On 4 March 2020 the European Commission published its proposal for a European climate law. The present Commission proposal raises a number of questions, such as what steering effect can the long-term orientation really achieve or will the climate law effectively close existing gaps in the processes of EU climate policy? Together with experts, we have further explored these questions.