Under this contract, the Ecologic Institute continues its programme of ETS training and capacity building activities implemented under the auspices of the International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP), supported by the European Commission. In an Ecologic-led consortium with ICF and Get2C, the programme seeks to provide participants from developing countries and emerging economies with knowledge to develop and implement emissions trading as a cost-effective policy instrument to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The European Union is strongly committed to shifting to a competitive, low-carbon circular economy. The first European Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) from December 2015 set a framework for stimulating the transition towards a circular economy. It is foreseen to revise the CEAP in 2020 to further strengthen the momentum and enable businesses, industry and society to transition to a circular economy.

With the adoption of the European Green Deal as a new overarching EU strategy, climate policy goals have officially become integrated across EU policy as a whole. The goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050 is at the heart of the European Green Deal – but how will it be operationalized? This project brings together IDDRI, ECF and Ecologic Institute in their aim to enhance transparency of progress towards the net-zero goal and improving long-term climate governance.

The UNITED project provides evidence by means of pilot demonstrators that the development of multi-use platforms or co-location of different activities in a marine and ocean space is a viable approach (economically, socially and environmentally) for European maritime industry and local ecosystems. The economic and environmental benefits of multiple use of the marine and ocean space include the possibility of increasing resource efficiency by sharing infrastructure and logistics. However, the practicability of multiple use depends on a variety of factors, which the UNITED project is seeking to address through five pillars: Technology, economy, environment, society and legal/policy/governance/.

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are solutions that are inspired and supported by nature. They can be used in urban settings to complement or replace "traditional" or "grey" solutions to perform functions, such as thermal insulation and stormwater retention and filtration. Focusing on addressing climate change, this catalogue presents a wide selection of NBS that exemplify high climate mitigation potential and applicability across a range of urban contexts.

Addressing energy consumption and related GHG emissions from buildings constitute a major challenge in the light of the climate crisis. At the same time, the interplay of building policies with other policy areas comes into focus with sector coupling, digitalization but also lifecycle considerations and adaptation to climate change. For the European Commission Directorate-General for Energy, the Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE), Climact, Creara Consultores and Ecologic Institute investigate which lessons can be learned from already existent integrated policy approaches for new buildings and buildings undergoing a major renovation.

Effective CO2 pricing is crucial to achieve the global climate protection goals. This was the subject of an event that was carried out by the Ecologic Institute as a co-organizer as part of a formal side event at the 25th session of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25) in Madrid.

The role of think tanks in a world of transitions and turbulences was the overarching topic of the 2019 Global Think Tank Summit in Rio de Janeiro. One of the prominent topics discussed was the climate crisis. In this context, an international panel chaired by Dr. Camilla Bausch examined new policies, paradigms and public engagement strategies around the world.

The European commission strives for carbon-neutrality in Europe by 2050. In order to achieve this goal, the energy intensive industries will have to reduce their emissions substantially. On behalf of the European Parliament, CE Delft and Ecologic Institute will summarise how energy intensive industries in Europe can transition to a carbon-neutral energy economy while preserving their global competitiveness.

In this chapter Ewa Iwaszuk, Linda Mederake and Doris Knoblauch (all Ecologic Institute) analyse the extent to which municipal long-term climate strategies contain formulations and measures aimed at promoting urban transformative change (defined as non-linear change for sustainability that profoundly transforms cities and the systems they form part of). The methodology is applied to the strategies of three cities from around the world (Austin, Texas, USA; Berlin, Germany; Melbourne, Australia) to understand the extent to which the visions outlined in these local-level strategies can be said to be transformative.

The main objective of the platform is to provide organisational support for the German Roundtable on Marine Litter and its working groups. In addition, the public part of the platform serves public relations work and the bundling of information on marine litter. The Ecologic Institute developed this central German portal on marine litter technically, structurally and graphically to support the fulfilment of the tasks of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive with regard to marine litter and other international obligations (e.g. Action Plan on Marine Litter, OSPAR, HELCOM).

The European Ocean Coalition (EU4Ocean) connects diverse organisations, projects and people that contribute to ocean literacy and the sustainable management of the ocean. Supported by the European Commission, this bottom-up inclusive initiative aims at uniting the voices of Europeans to make the ocean a concern of everyone!

The 2-day workshop, funded within the framework of the BMU’s (Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety) Environmental Research Plan, took place from 3 to 4 December 2019 in Augsburg at the Bavarian State Office for the Environment.

In December 2019, a new European Commission took office in Brussels, and president Ursula von der Leyen has pledged to put climate policy at the center for the next five years. But how ambitious are the Commission's plans? What is the business sector's take on the new climate drive? How do international climate experts assess the plans? And how will EU decisions shape national energy, mobility and climate debates and actions in the member states? This research tour for journalists from 2 to 4 December 2019 to Brussels, jointly organised with Clean Energy Wire (CLEW) and the European Climate Foundation (ECF) offered an introduction to relevant institutions, actors and topics that equipped participants with background and contacts to cover EU climate, energy and transport policy.