This handbook by Ecologic Institute is intended to provide the reader with the necessary information how to guide the participatory development of a River Basin Adaptation Plan. The handbook begins with more general contextual information about the BeWater project before highlighting the importance of adaptation, the state of the art in river basin planning, society's role in the process and finally the need for resilient social-ecological systems. The handbook is available for download.

Pederson, R., A. Frelih-Larsen, Z. Lukacova A., Crook, N., S. Naumann, C. Bowyer, C. Keenleyside, S. Nanni (2016). 'Soil Stakeholders Conference, 5 December 2016 – Conference Report.' Annex 2 to the report Updated Inventory and Assessment of Soil Protection Policy Instruments in EU Member States. Final Report to DG Environment. Berlin: Ecologic Institute.

Striking a balance between centralization and decentralization of competences is a challenge that dates to the start of European integration. There are some drivers that work towards greater centralization of EU climate policies – the need for enhanced climate action, electricity market integration and a realization of the Energy Union. At the same time, centralization in and of itself is not a guarantee for more ambitious or effective climate policies. In a new publication appearing in the journal Climate Policy authors Camilla Bausch and Benjamin Görlach of Ecologic Institute and Michael Mehling of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) trace the evolution and role of the centralization/decentralization debate in the context of EU climate policy. The article looks at emissions trading and the promotion of renewable energy as cases of centralization vs. decentralization, but cautions that this trend is neither smooth nor guaranteed to persist. In the dynamic and reflexive governance system of the EU, there is no one-size-fits-all, optimal balance between centralized and decentralized policy from a climate perspective.

In December 2016, the joint statement of the Expert Commission on the "Energy of the Future" Monitoring Process was published. Ecologic Institute provides scientific support to the work of the Expert Commission with a focus on the key topics that Dr. Hans-Joachim Ziesing and the Expert Commission selected for their joint statement. The joint statement is available for download.

Member States earned close to EUR 12 billion from auctioning in the EU Emissions Trading from 2013 to 2015 with over 80% of the money so far spent on climate action – most of it in the EU. The funding mainly went to renewables, efficiency and cross-cutting programmes. The national reports on the use of auctioning revenues, however, contain mistakes while there seems to be no frequent quality review at present. The summary report is available for download.

Ecologic Institute developed an easy-to-use web tool that displays ETS auctioning revenue data for the EU Member States since the beginning of the third trading period in 2013. The intuitive and navigable web interface allows the user to visualize and compare revenues by country and year using one or more graphical representations. The tool incorporates multiple indicators including type of use, share used in/outside the EU, actions in/outside the EU and channels used to support developing countries.

Since the adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015 countries worldwide have started processes towards the implementation of the goals and targets. Some of the targets are often already part of national strategies and instruments. Others are new and still need to be further specified to national circumstances – target 15.3 and the concept of "Land Degradation Neutrality" is one of these.

In the research programme "Smart Energy Showcases – Digital Agenda for the Energy Transition" (SINTEG), over 300 research institutions and companies in five model regions are developing new solutions for a completely renewable energy system. Ecologic Institute is part of the accompanying research process of the SINTEG programme, where it leads the work on the legal framework. Ecologic Institute supports the Federal Ministry of Economics (BMWI) and the SINTEG showcases in generating insights on how the regulatory framework has to be adapted so that the solutions developed in the programme can be put into practice.

On 5 December 2016, World Soil Day, an EU Soil stakeholders' Conference took place in Brussels. The conference aimed at raising awareness about the importance of soils and the ecosystem services that they deliver, and to contribute to the implementation of the EU Soil Thematic Strategy. The proceedings are available for download.

Despite limitations in the legal detail, the Paris Agreement's political narrative goes way beyond its legal text. The approach is an experiment that relies on the national determination of efforts combined with the persuasive impact of the transparency framework and the regular taking stock of progress. The future details to these elements could be crucial for safeguarding ambition.

The valuation of damages and risks for the human health caused by environmental pressures is a methodological challenge, as there are no market prices for most of those damages and risks. But a number of economic methods have been developed to estimate and value those risks and damages.

<p>To put our energy system back on track to achieve the long term EU greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets, scaled up efforts are required especially in the three major areas of energy consumption: transport, heating and cooling, as well as electricity generation for households and industry. As these sectors still rely largely on fossil fuels, radical technological changes are needed. Therefore, the main objective of this project is to obtain an overall picture of what technological options are available and how these options can be combined to drive decarbonisation efforts and ensure resilience of the EU energy system.</p>&#13;

Global demand for minerals is growing rapidly, driven by rapid population growth, urbanisation and an increasingly diverse range of technical applications. Global material supply chains linking the extraction, transport and processing stages of raw materials have become increasingly complex and today involve multiple players and product components. An interactive platform that provides transparency about existing approaches and information gaps concerning global material flows is needed to understand these global supply chains; developing this capability is critical for maintaining competitiveness in the European economy.