The first online, freely available atlas of freshwater biodiversity was launched on January 29 at the landmark Science Policy Symposium for Freshwater Life, which brought together European Union policy makers and freshwater scientists. The scientific information platform was created to support the protection and sustainable management of inland waters as an output of BioFresh, and EU-funded project in which Ecologic Institute participates.

Ten ELEEP Members traveled to the Pacific Northwest of the United States to find out how communities use planning, policies, investments, and other measures to establish low-carbon, sustainable transportation systems. This tour took a broad perspective, moving beyond a focus on transportation systems in isolation to consider the larger economic development, urban/rural, and social implications of transit and transportation planning.

Ecologic Institute, the Urania Berlin, and the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin present the event series "Biodiversity - local/global" to offer a better understanding of biological diversity and its socially-relevant facets.

More than 100 participants from ministries, NGOs, embassies and research institutions came together in the British Embassy in Berlin. The event focused on how to more successfully prevent wildlife crime. Christiane Gerstetter remarked that environmental crime is considered as a difficult concept to implement and enforced even by many experts and practitioners. The ensuing panel discussion was moderated by R. Andreas Kraemer.

The Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP) at the International Relations Program, University of Pennsylvania, conducts research on the role policy institutes play in governments and in civil societies around the world. On Wednesday, 22 January 2014, the TTCSP released its 2013 Report. On this occasion, more than 25 global partners implemented local launch events.

For four years now, Ecologic Institute has claimed a top spot in the "Environment" category of the highly regarded global rankings of policy institutes, or think tanks, published by the University of Pennsylvania. In 2013, the Berlin-based research organization was ranked in 9th place.
 Researchers at Ecologic Institute have been working on current societally- and politically-relevant environmental questions since 1995. The research performed by Ecologic Institute has been recognized, as it has been for the last three years, with a top ranking in the Global Go To Think Tank Index.

An important part of the research project "European Union Action to Fight Environmental Crime" (EFFACE), which is coordinated by Ecologic Institute, is a series of workshops. They served both to present results of the research project and to invite feedback from academic experts, policy-makers and practitioners. Summaries of the workshops are available for download.

Ecologic Institute analyzes to what extent Germany's income and cooperate tax rules promote climate protection. In this context, Ecologic Institute presents proposals for reforming Germany's income tax law. The analysis and the proposal are available for download. This analysis is part of project carried out in cooperation with Oeko-Institut, BCC GmbH, Prof. Janine Wendt (TU Darmstadt) und Prof. Domenik Wendt (Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences). Next to tax rules, the project analyses whether financial market rules and cooperate laws incentives investment in climate protection.

On 15 January 2014, Doris Knoblauch presented work from the transdisciplinary research organization, Ecologic Institute, whose main focus is environmental research. At the lecture series "Facets of Sustainable Development" at the University of Applied Sciences Bremen, Doris Knoblauch showcased different aspects of policy advising, applied research and think tanks, with a particular focus on Ecologic Institute's work.

The deliverable 'Inventory of River Restoration Measures: Effects, Costs, and Benefits' was published in January 2014 as part of the FP7 REFORM project. Scientists at Ecologic Institute led the work in collaboration with several European partners, including economists and ecologists. The information in the deliverable will help river basin managers by providing examples of how representative data on the costs and benefits of river restoration can be gathered and analysed to support the drafting of programmes of measures for the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive. The deliverable is available for download.

In the future, climate change can impact the effectiveness and costs of water quality improvement measures. This must be taken into account when selecting measures to implement in accordance with the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). Until now, the consequences of climate change have not been systematically incorporated into the economic analyses called for by the WFD. A new book chapter evaluates the basic approaches used to date, thereby contributing to the necessary discussion on how existing and future programs of measures consider and integrate the consequences of climate change.