The MinFuture website provides an overview of the project objectives, structure and partners as well as events and news related to relevant issues of the project. Furthermore, project outputs such as deliverables, policy briefs and publications are regularly promoted on the website. Ecologic Institute is responsible for the concept, design and programming.

The EU has been going through a series of crises – from the Eurozone crisis and Brexit to controversy around migration, from external threats to the rise of Eurosceptic and nationalistic parties in some Member States. In response, the EU has embarked on an extensive process to reform itself. Against this backdrop, the Ecologic Institute organises workshops on EU reform and its links to climate and energy policies. Workshops take place in Tallinn, Sofia and Bucharest - in the context of the Estonian, Bulgarian and Romanian EU Presidency. A final conference in Berlin will conclude the project in spring 2019. The Ecologic Institute will present a study on the interlinkages between EU reform and climate and energy policy at the final conference.

Long-term climate strategies are an important instrument to help policy-makers and relevant stakeholders to establish a direction towards a climate-friendly future. The Paris Agreement asks all countries to establish such strategies – and EU Member States will soon be committed under EU law to produce them by 2020 at the latest. Not all EU countries have tried to establish plans that long into the future (up to 2050 and beyond) and the existing ones differ in scope and specificity. There is thus a need for exchange of the current experience and a sharing of best practice – including improving the understanding of the underlying modelling and scenario work. The Climate Recon 2050 project brings together policymakers from EU Member States, as well technical experts and climate modellers in two parallel fora to provide a space for exactly such a dialogue.

Ecologic Institute analysed the existing European rules for climate action. Although comprehensive and detailed, they do not include many features of national and regional climate laws, such as legally binding reduction targets, emission budgets, or independent institutions. However, these features contribute significantly to the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The detailed project report is available for download.

George Mason University's "German Campus Weeks" program, sponsored by the German embassy, featured a presentation on climate and energy policy by Ecologic Institute's Elizabeth Zelljadt. She explained Germany's energy transition (Energiewende) and the country's role in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to about 40 undergraduates.

In February 2017, the European Commission published for the first time an Environmental Implementation Review (EIR). The EIR aims to improve implementation in the field of EU environmental policy, by trying to identify the causes of implementation gaps, and to find solutions to them. The first round of assessment reports for the 28 Member States revealed a lack of sound methodologies for assessing the various aspects of environmental governance.

This commentary on the SchadRegProtAG is primarily intended as a legal working aid for practice and is aimed at the enforcement authorities and the operators of potentially reportable operating facilities.

This report has been prepared as part of work-package 5 of the FIThydro project on Fishfriendly Innovative Technologies for Hydropower. It aims at investigating the regulatory landscape influencing actions relevant to environmental improvements in the context of planning and operating hydropower plants. Emphasis is given to the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive, nature protection policies and policies on renewable energy and climate change adaptation, thereby outlining opportunities, barriers and challenges in reaching multiple environmental objectives. The report is available for download.

Successful innovations require more than a great idea and technical expertise – they need a market. The BRIGAID Market Analysis Framework (MAF+) aims to support innovators to identify market opportunities, tune their innovations to meet actual market needs, and develop their business strategy. This document proposes how an innovator, a supporting partner, and an observer (i.e. the intended users of the MAF+) will interact with the online portal. The aim is to clearly lay out the path these users will follow and define the required software functionality at each step of the assessment. The document served as a blueprint to guide the web development of the MAF+ online portal. Detailed explanations of the 12 exercises are included in the annex, which compiles the draft templates used to inform the development of the portal. The report is available for download.

The digitization of all spheres of life is progressing steadily, a mega-trend that will continuously and fundamentally change society. Municipalities are also making increasing use of the potential offered by digitization of political and administrative processes. Doris Knoblauch and Susanne Langsdorf (both Ecologic Institute) developed a method that allows municipalities to easily check their (digitization) projects for their contribution to sustainable development. The report and the questionnaire are available for download.

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly recognised for their potential to contribute to a range of urban challenges and policy objectives. But, to what extent do current policy frameworks support or hinder their implementation? At the international conference on "Nature-based solutions: From Innovation to Common-Use", Ecologic Institute's McKenna Davis addressed this question in a session on 'Blue-green infrasturcture in smart cities'. Held in Tallinn (Estonia) from the 24 to 26 October 2017, the flagship conference was part of the Presidency of the Estonian Republic of the Council of the European Union.

The transition to a low-carbon economy requires a rapid decarbonisation of Europe's energy, industrial, transport and buildings sectors, as well as measures to adapt to a changing climate. This is not only a challenge in terms of the investment needs and the technological innovation, but also in terms of the needed labour inputs. This project takes stock of the employment effects of transitioning to a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy. The Ecologic Institute covers the parts of the research that are related to adaptation to climate change.

The World Resources Forum 2017 entitled "Accelerating the Resource Revolution" was held in Geneva from 24 to 25 October 2017. Ecologic Institute's Mandy Hinzmann presented the TRAFIS project with a lecture on "Transforming infrastructures towards sustainability - lessons learnt from ICT-based peer-to-peer carsharing service Drivy in Germany". The presentation slides are available for download.