This November, the latest climate report for Germany, titled "Climate Change in Germany: Development, Consequences, Risks and Perspectives", was published. For the first time, climate change in Germany has been assessed from an interdisciplinary and comprehensive perspective, taking all societal issues and sectors into account. The 126 authors covered issues such as already-observed and prospective changes, weather calamities and their consequences, risks for the future and options for the advancement of adaptation strategies. Dr. Grit Martinez of Ecologic Institute is co-author of the report's chapter on story line options for a transformative climate adaptive society in Germany. The climate report is available for download.

The EU Action Plan against Wildlife Trafficking adopted by the European Commission on 26 February 2016 is the most recent EU initiative to tackle wildlife crime. On 8 September 2016, the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety of the European Parliament (ENVI) held a workshop in Brussels on ‘Delivering and enforcing the EU Action Plan Against Wildlife Trafficking’. With support from the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), Ecologic Institute organized the workshop and compiled the proceedings for this publication. The proceedings summarize the presentations and discussions.

The Jean Monnet Network on Atlantic Studies is an initiative across the four Atlantic continents by 10 leading think tanks and independent experts to collaborate in interdisciplinary exploration of three emerging pan-Atlantic themes of particular relevance to the European Union: (1) energy and transport in the context of climate change; (2) commercial interactions such as trade and investment; and (3) pan-Atlantic challenges to human security.

Since 2008, the "Transatlantic Climate Bridge" (TACB), an initiative of the German government, has fostered strengthened cooperation on climate and energy policy issues between Germany (and Europe as a whole) on one side of the Atlantic and the US and Canada on the other. After nearly a decade of successful programmes under the TACB framework – including Ecologic-run study tours in Germany by North American policymakers and experts in the policy areas of energy, agriculture, and buildings – the TACB is being revamped to accommodate new North American climate policy circumstances.

Nature is important for the urban environment: trees grant shade during the summer months, while parks and lakes function as areas for relaxation, as places where the urban population comes together, and as space where children can experience nature and learn about it in an active way. Furthermore, the wellbeing of the urban population thrives under the benefits of nature, which include an extensive list of ecological benefits. These include, for example, climate change mitigation and a pleasant urban climate. Ecologic Institute is part of the European research project NATURVATION, which analyses nature-based solutions in urban areas.

Hydropower plants can offer a reliable and clean source of energy. However, these installations can often pose difficult challenges for the surrounding environment, particularly the fish species living in the rivers. FIThydro (Fishfriendly Innovative Technologies for Hydropower) is a 4-year EU research and innovation action (funded under H2020) which aims to support decisions on commissioning and operating hydropower plants (HPP) by use of existing and innovative technologies. It concentrates on mitigation measures to develop cost-effective environmental solutions and strategies to avoid individual fish damage and to support the development of self-sustainable fish populations. FIThydro brings together 26 partners from 10 countries, involving several of the leading companies in the renewable and hydropower energy sector in Europe.

The AQUACROSS consortium published a report on EU environmental policy synergies. Authors of the report, including Ecologic Institute, analyse these EU policies, specifically aiming to determine: How EU policies and laws contribute to and/or hinder the achievement of EU and international biodiversity targets; and the coherence and/or incoherence of current environmental protection policies affecting the management of aquatic ecosystems. The report is available for download.

<p>On 31 October 2016, Ecologic Institute hosted a Dinner Dialoge on the German Climate Action Programme 2020 and the Climate Plan 2050 featuring guest speakers&nbsp; Dr. Karsten Sach, BMUB, Dr. Hermann Hüwels, DIHK, and Regine Günther, WWF.&nbsp; Franzjosef Schafhausen moderated the discussion. The 21 participants discussed which criteria a 2050 climate strategy would need to fulfil, and how this strategy could foster the required transformation towards a low-carbon economy.</p>

Circular Economy promises a lower resource and energy use, new employment sector and economic growth. However, can an European circular economy fulfill these expectations and what environmental, social and economic impact does a transition to such an economy bear? The project CIRCULAR IMPACTS will answer these questions by collecting and assessing the existent knowledge base. On 27 October 2016, Lucas Porsch from Ecologic Institute presented the goals of the project. The slides are available for download.

In recent decades, and after a gradual improvement in water quality due to wastewater treatment and reduced industrial activities, urban rivers and lakes have become increasingly important in the planning of urban ecology, green infrastructure, green areas and climate change adaptation in European cities. According to a new EEA report, new initiatives for integrated water management in urban areas contribute to making cities greener and more sustainable.

Impact Assessment is an essential process in the world of policy-making. At the EU level, it is a requirement for every new policy project. UBA led a study to analyze the consideration for environmental impacts in these studies and whether there were lessons to learn for Germany. Ecologic Institute collaborated with Zurich-based INFRAS to scrutinize a sample of IAs published by the European Commission and analyze emerging trends. UBA and the consulting team then organized a workshop in Brussels to discuss their findings with representants of European Institutions (DG Environment, European Policy Research Service, Joint Research Center, etc.) and international IA experts. The presentation slides by Ecologic Institute and INFRAS are available for download.

Innovative ways to manage the urban water cycle are required to deal with an ageing drinking and waste water infrastructure and new societal imperatives. This paper examines the influence of water governance in enabling transformations and technological innovation uptake in urban water management. A governance assessment framework is developed and applied in three case-studies, examining different scales and types of innovations used to tackle challenges in European urban water management. The methodology combines documentary analysis and interviews to reconstruct historical storylines of the shift in the water governance of urban water management for each site. The research provides detailed empirical observations on the factors conducive to innovation uptake at the local level. Critical governance factors such as commitment to compromise, the necessity to build political support, and the role of "entrepreneurs" and coalitions are highlighted. The paper also explores the role of discursive strategies and partnership design, as well as that of regulative, economic and communicative instruments, in creating barriers and opportunities to initiate and secure change. A number of recommendations targeted at innovators and water managers are presented in the conclusion.

The issue of closing mineral cycles was analyzed in eight European regions and the results are presented in the report "Resource Efficiency in Practice – Closing Mineral Cycles". The authors of BIO IS, Ecologic Institute, AMEC, Danish Technical University, University of Milano and LEI, identified measures that support the closing of mineral cycles within the study regions. For each region, practical and strategic options to reduce the nutrient surplus further were derived.

The final conference of the project "Post-carbon cities of tomorrow" (POCACITO) led by Ecologic Institute, will take place on Friday, 21 October 2016 in Brussels. At the interactive conference we will present our experience in developing long-term strategies with stake-holders through visioning and backcasting workshops and other results of the project, such as a high level document or 'roadmap' to achieve livable post-carbon cities by 2050. Registration is now open!

High-impact storm events have demonstrated the vulnerability of coastal zones in Europe and beyond. These impacts are likely to increase due to predicted climate change and ongoing coastal development. In order to reduce impacts, disaster risk reduction (DRR) measures need to be taken, which prevent or mitigate the effects of storm events.This paper gives an overview of the products and results obtained in the FP7-funded project RISC-KIT, which aims to develop and apply a set of tools with which highly-vulnerable coastal areas (so-called "hotspots") can be identified. The paper is available for download.