The Yearbook Ecology 2013 was published at the end of August. Ecologic Institute is one of the institutes supporting this yearbook and contributed a chapter in the 2012 edition. This issue's focus is on the German "Energiewende," the development towards environmentally friendly energy production, which is examined from economic, social, technical, and ecological points of view. Dr. Hans-Joachim Ziesing, Senior Policy Advisor at Ecologic Institute, contributed a chapter about energy saving and energy efficiency in Germany.

As part of the Berlin Program of Duke University of Durham, North Carolina, R. Andreas Kraemer will this fall again teach on European integration and environmental policy in the context of transatlantic relations.

As part of the ELEEP Network’s ongoing investigation of the changing energy landscape in Europe and the United States, ten ELEEP members participated in a study tour to Denver, Colorado and San Francisco, California from 19 to 24 August 2012. This trip served as a counterpoint to earlier trips to Germany/Austria in August 2011 and Germany/Denmark in March 2012, augmenting the European perspective with current information from the United States.

Sustainability and demographic change are very topical themes not only in politics and science, but also in civil society. While they may seem dissimilar at first glance the challenge of social change is paramount in both areas. The thesis addresses the question of how these two issues can be linked to each other and how the implementation of a dynamic simulation model can foster this process. Case study region there is North Frisia in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.

The Adaptation Action Plan constitutes the central reference document for measures targeting adaptation to climate change in Germany. In connection with the 2015 update of this action plan, Ecologic Institute and INFRAS provided technical support to the German Federal Environment Agency. The project focused on the compilation and evaluation of potential adaptation measures and political instruments to further their implementation.

Ecologic Institute and Perspective GmbH analysed the role of German companies in the CDM and JI markets in this report funded by the German Federal Environment Agency. German producers of environmental technology hold leading positions on the world market today and are expected to do so in the future. However, German technology providers do not play a major role in CDM/JI projects: the share of German technology in CDM projects is less than 20%. An English summary of the report is available for download.

In this article published in Conservation Letters, members of the interdisciplinary Research Group on Ecosystem Services examine the possibilities and perspectives for a reorientation of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The authors find that the current reform proposals do not take into account the knowledge generated by ecosystem research. They argue that the CAP should be reformed such that it serves as an instrument to safeguard ecosystem services from agricultural land.

In the course of the German "Energiewende", Ecologic Institute supports the German Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) and - since March 2014 - the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy - in the further development of existing instruments to promote renewable energies in both the electricity and heat sector (Renewable Energies Sources Act and Renewable Energies Heat Act), including the increasing system, grid and market integration of electricity from renewable sources, the production of biogas and its feeding into the natural gas grid, questions regarding the promotion of bioenergy and solar energy, legal questions regarding the implementation of the European legal framework on renewable energies, and supporting the BMU in the Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP).

This study developed a detailed assessment of the potential threats, risks, damage costs, and existing adaptive capacities of Member States in the realm of the CAP and Cohesion Policy, as well as an appraisal of options and strategies through which the CAP and Cohesion Policy can adapt to a changing climate. The study makes recommendations and offers guidance to public authorities in Member States on how to mainstream climate into and climate proof expenditures and measures under Cohesion Policy and the CAP. The study findings are of direct relevance for the programming of CAP and Cohesion Policy expenditures under the next EU Multi-Annual Financial Framework from 2014 to 2020. The final report is available for download.

The economic valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services has become a widespread tool to inform policy-makers about the consequences of environmental change. Assessments of environmental impacts at large geographic scales have led to growing policy and academic interest in transferring ecosystem service values from existing valuation studies to other ecosystem sites at a large geographic scale. This paper, published in Environmental and Resource Economics, proposes a methodology for scaling up ecosystem service values to estimate the welfare effects of ecosystem change at this larger geographic scale.

Since 2008, the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety has financed the National Climate Initiative (NKI in German), in order to achieve its national target of an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by the year 2050. In order to make optimal use of the funds, it is necessary to include technological innovation and societal processes in funding initiatives. This necessitates new approaches on many levels, involving many stakeholders and aspects of daily life. Researchers from Ecologic Institute, Arepo Consult, Oeko-Institut, and the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IFEU) supported the implementation and further development of the National Climate Initiative project.

This article, written by Ruta Landgrebe and Benjamin Boteler from Ecologic Institute in the theme issue of the German League for Nature, Animal Protection and Environment’s (DNR) newsletter, concerns environmentally harmful EU subsidies in the agricultural and fisheries sectors and argues for continued support for the "greening" of the EU budget, including the elimination of environmentally harmful subsidies for the new seven-year funding period 2014-2020.