On 10 and 11 October 2018, the AQUACROSS Final Conference on "Ecosystem-Based Management for the Protection of Aquatic Biodiversity – Practice and Lessons Learnt" took place in Brussels. AQUACROSS project team members presented different tools and results regarding aquatic biodiversity protection developed during the project. Conference participants from 21 countries received the eight AQUACROSS Case Studies and the Case Study Gallery with posters, photos and information material with particular interest. The presentations held during the conference are now available on the AQUACROSS project conference website.

The term illiberal democracy is used often. This is a problem. The term "illiberal democracy" makes it invisible that democracy is dismantled in so-called "illiberal democracies". Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf, Head of International and European Governance at Ecologic Institute, and Michael Meyer-Resende, both co-founders of Democracy Reporting International, argue in the Süddeutsche Zeitung that the appropriate terms are undemocratic or authoritarian.

In this press briefing, the "Coal Reader" is presented. It has been developed by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Wuppertal Institute, and Ecologic Institute. The "Coal Reader" presents options and implications of a phase-out of coal-fired power generation in Germany. It provides facts, explains the pros and cons, and shows the respective scientific background.

What is the best way forward for soil protection in the EU? How can we improve EU policies to secure the delivery of soil ecosystem services? These questions were the focus of the final policy conference of the RECARE project which took place on 27 September 2018 in Brussels. More than 100 participants from 21 countries participated in the conference.

The topic of sustainable nutrition is increasingly relevant in political, scientific and media debates. In this context, there are different perspectives and motivations surrounding the topic. Within the project "Wissenschaftliche Koordination der Fördermaßnahme Nachhaltiges Wirtschaften" (NaWiKo), Ecologic Institute will organize a workshop on "Sustainable nutrition systems and sustainable nutrition culture – Action approaches for transformative processes and practices" on 26 September 2018 in Berlin.

A Climate Neutral Europe by 2050 – a possible vision for the future? On 28 November 2018, the European Commission published analysis to underpin a new long-term strategy (LTS) on climate policy for the EU, laying out a vision of how to decarbonize the European economy. Ecologic Institute evaluates the Commission's analysis in a project for the German Environment Agency (UBA) and monitors further development of the 2050 strategy's adoption process.

This publication provides a quantitative overview of the development and status of environmental crime in Germany between 2004 and 2016, based on data from the police crime statistics ("Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik") and the Federal Statistical Office's criminal prosecution statistics ("Strafverfolgungsstatistik"). The report provides both, an overview of general trends and an in-depth account of individual environmental offences. In addition, the publication contains data on administrative offences relating to trafficking of protected species. The report was prepared by a team from Ecologic Institute on behalf of the German Federal Environment Agency.

This brochure describes the threats to soils in Europe, how the RECARE project has addressed these and provides clear examples of soil management options and policy solutions. Ecologic Institute's Ana Frelih-Larsen and Sandra Naumann contributed to the RECARE project brochure, which is available for download.

This case-study paper examines future scenarios for car sharing in Germany, analysing drivers and impacts. Enabled by disruptive technological changes, car sharing is an example of a "product as a service" and becoming an increasingly viable alternative to the private ownership of cars. By intensifying the use of vehicles, car sharing has the potential to provide mobility using fewer physical and energy resources.

The persistent damaging impacts of subsoil compaction call for policy intervention in order to secure yields and adapt to climate change, as well as to sustain soil ecosystem services for future generations. The authors of this RECARE Policy Brief, including Ana Frelih-Larsen of Ecologic Institute, demand that policy responses need to address the underlying drivers of farmers' decision-making concerning field traffic through a systematic and coordinated approach for sustainable soil management in Europe. The RECARE policy brief is available for download.

The problem of historical contamination remains an important gap in European policymaking on soils. Political commitment is required to address the issue of historical contamination systematically by providing a common EU framework to guide and facilitate activities at the national level, where in turn establishing and implementing national strategies for managing soil contamination is important. Finally, improving knowledge, sharing, and availability of existing information, and engaging stakeholders in the process of remediating soil contamination is recommended by the authors, lead by Ana Frelih-Larsen and Sophie Ittner of Ecologic Institute. The RECARE policy brief is available for download.

Despite the extensive loss of productive soils and the valuable ecosystem services that soils provide, the awareness of the magnitude and negative implications of these processes remain relatively low. In this RECARE policy brief, Ecologic Institute's Sandra Naumann and Ana Frelih-Larsen together with Gundula Prokop from the Austrian Environment Agency illustrate the scale of the problem and identify ready-made solutions and steps policy makers and practitioners can take across different levels, from city planning to national and European level. The RECARE policy brief is available for download.

This report summarizes the results of the case studies in the CIRCULAR IMPACTS project and derives some main lessons from these case studies. The case studies are on concrete recycling, phosphorus recycling, car sharing, and recycling of batteries from electric vehicles.

Ecologic Institute contributed to the Agenda Conference for Social-Ecological Research (SÖF) by leading on and supporting research theme clusters. The event took place in Kassel on 19 and 20 September. It ended with an outlook by Florian Frank from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), who called for "dangerous" research to solve pressing socio-ecological problems.

This publication is the second of Eurostat's regular reports monitoring progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in an EU context. The monitoring report provides a statistical presentation of trends relating to the SDGs in the EU over the past five years ('short-term') and, when sufficient data is available, over the past 15 years ('long-term'). Ecologic Institute's authors covered the chapters on SDG2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 14 (Life Below Water), SDG 15 (Life on Land) and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). The publication is available for download.