The project "Rural Urban Nexus – Global Land Use and Urbanisation" is developing approaches and policy recommendations directed at an integrated and sustainable rural and urban development.

This policy brief presents insights on the historical and future role of carbon pricing in the EU. The findings discussed are drawn from research undertaken by the CECILIA2050 and ENTRACTE projects.

This volume presents strategic lines of instrumentation for the future climate policy instrumentation in the EU, both for the short and the long term, closely related to energy policy and other policy domains like transport and housing.

Measuring and monitoring as well as communicating on progress in the context of European and national resource policy (in particular ProgRess) requires comprehensive and robust material input and consumption indicators. Several different methods have already been developed that quantify direct and indirect (material extractions in export countries needed to produce imported goods) material flows. However, the different methods used for and the data basis underlying the indicator calculations lack harmonization, which renders the calculation results less comparable and less robust. The report is available for download.

The solar services sector sells the service of providing the use of solar electricity to its customer instead of selling solar PV systems (the product). This new business model can be seen as a radical innovation for the solar sector – as it is in other sectors. It is particularly interesting from the perspective of systemic eco-innovation fostering a carbon-free and circular economy. The policy brief is available for download.

The World Soil Day on December 5th 2015 marked the end of the International Year of Soils. Throughout this past year, various activities and efforts took place to raise awareness of the profound importance of soils for human life and to promote soil protection. Soils deliver essential ecosystem services such as food, fiber and biomass production, water and nutrient cycling and the storage of carbon. The protection of this resource also plays a key role in mitigating and adapting to climate change. As the International Year of Soils comes to an end, the need to stop and reverse soil degradation remains acute. In partnership with researchers across Europe, Ecologic Institute will continue to actively contribute to the development of solutions for soil protection.

On 12 December 2015, 194 countries and the EU adopted the new "Paris Agreement" under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Ecologic Institute’s Ralph Bodle and Lena Donat had supported the German Delegation for several years and were on the EU negotiating team up to and in Paris.

Since 2000 the Transport and Environment Reporting Mechanism (TERM) has monitored the progress of the integration of environmental objectives into transport policy in the EU. The TERM 2015 report investigates key developments in the transport sector with regards to environment, identifying what has improved and what has been a barrier to the sector's environmental performance. Ecologic Institute contributed to the TERM 2015 report with a chapter on transport and biodiversity. The full report is available for download.

One of the main outcomes of the EU-funded FP7 project "European Union Action to Fight Environmental Crime" (EFFACE) is the report 'Evaluation of the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities (SWOT) associated with EU efforts to combat environmental crime'. This SWOT analysis brings together insights gained during the previous EFFACE research and evaluates the current approaches of the EU and its Member States in combating environmental crime. The analysis is available for download.

Where do Canada and Germany stand in the field of energy policy, especially in renewable energies and energy efficiency? Which initiatives and projects are leading the way? Which impact had the Paris Climate Conference (COP 21)? Who is driving development and how can Canada profit from Germany's experiences? These and other questions framed the Canadian-German visitors program that took place from 13 until 17 December 2015 in Berlin and Düsseldorf, focusing on the theme "Energy Policy in Germany." The program hosted 10 stakeholders with professional backgrounds in policy, science and NGO works.

This project, led by Ecologic Institute, aims to take stock of existing soil policy instruments in the EU in order to identify gaps in protection and to support the decision-making process for further policy action. Collaborating closely with experts from 28 EU Member States, the project develops a Wiki-based inventory and an up-to-date assessment of soil policy instruments in the EU. The inventory consists of existing and upcoming policy instruments, including legislation, regulatory and non-binding instruments, measures and targets in the EU Member States and its regions. In an ex-ante and ex-post impact analyses, the effectiveness of soil policy instruments in addressing the soil threats and soil functions in the EU as well as the relevance and coherence of policies is assessed.

This document sets out a detailed strategy for communication and dissemination of information stemming from multEE research and activities. It outlines a plan of dissemination activities aiming at making research outputs available to the relevant target groups by means of appropriate communication tools.

The overall aim of this project is to support the Committee of the Regions (CoR) by outlining the role cities and local and regional authorities (LRAs) can have in the planning, implementation and financing of more efficient district and renewable heating and cooling systems, usage of local heat, cold and fuel sources, insulation of buildings, the use of biomass in heating and cooling as well as Combined Heat and Power (CHP) generation.

Cities are at the forefront of the global carbon revolution, breaking established structures and creating new models for integrated systems. At an official side-event at COP21 in Paris, members of the POCACITO project consortium, including Max Gruenig and Camilla Bausch from Ecologic Institute, discussed how cities, serving as hubs of knowledge and learning, are essential catalysts in the global transformation to a post-carbon society.

Dr. Grit Martinez, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, has been invited by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to give a presentation at the Side Event "From research to decision making", which will take place on 3 December 2015 in the German Pavilion.