This short movie features different perceptions, approaches, and solutions in regard to climate change adaptation in Germany, Poland, and the Baltic States. The footage was recorded during a workshop series in Szczecin, Gdansk, Klaipeda, and Riga from 24 to 28 October 2011. Scientists and local stakeholders from Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia comment on climate change and climate adaptation. Local problems and solutions in the different countries are described, and the advantages of an international exchange of experience are emphasized.

The RADOST (Regional Adaptation Strategies for the German Baltic Sea Coast) project, coordinated by Ecologic Institute, concerns itself beyond its regional emphasis also with the exchange of positive experiences in the implementation of climate change adaptation measures in geographically similar regions not only in Europe but all over the world. In this context, the "Social Coast Forum" of the USA's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was the first in a series of activities with which Ecologic Institute will intensify the exchange with regions on the east coast of the United States and in the Chesapeake Bay.

Elizabeth Tedsen, Researcher, attended the Visionary Arctic 2012 conference in Kirkenes (Norway), where she presented on the environmental and social risks and benefits attributed to Arctic offshore hydrocarbon development. The conference sought to explore intersecting themes of sustainability and territorial challenges and explore future scenarios in the High North.

The EPI-Water project aims to understand how Economic Policy Instruments (EPIs) succeed or fail in directing water resources to uses that reflect social value and priorities. The project, which runs from January 2011 to December 2013, uses a multi-faceted Assessment Framework (AF) to make ex-post evaluations of existing EPIs that have been operating in Europe and abroad, and make ex-ante evaluations of potential EPIs that may be implemented within Europe. The Review of the Assessment Framework is available for download.

Information on the environmental characteristics of products, such as on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused during their production or their energy efficiency, are essential in order to allow consumers to make informed choices on which products to buy. This study investigated different design options for product-related environmental information addressed at consumers.

The EPI-Water project applies an evidence-based approach to the assessment of Economic Policy Instruments (EPIs) for water management. In this report, the 30 ex-post case study reviews undertaken in the work package 3 of the project are synthesized and cross-compared to extract a first set of common features and formulate hypotheses about the conditions under which EPIs contribute to policy options to achieve sustainable water management.

On 9-10 February 2012, DG Environment of the European Commission organized the 2nd Stakeholder Workshop for the Fitness Check of EU Freshwater Policy in Brussels. Lessons learned from this workshop contribute to the design and assessment of policy options for the Blueprint to Safeguard Europe's Water Resources. Eleftheria Kampa and Johanna von der Weppen contributed a discussion paper to the conference. The paper is available for download.

To date, developing countries have only participated in the carbon market as suppliers of offsets: through projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, they generate credits that are then sold to industrialised countries that have not acieved their mitigation targets. Since climate change is becoming an ever more pressing problem, however, mitigation in developing countries will need to go beyond offsets. At the same time, developing countries need to meet their responsibilities for the social welfare of their growing populations; scaled-up mitigation efforts will hence require time, capacity building, and large-scale investment. The so-called "Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions" (NAMAs) have been discussed as a way to enhance mitigation efforts in developing countries while taking into account their national circumstances and development priorities.

This report presents a document analysis on the four case studies that build on the InContext project’s WP3. The general purpose is to provide a better understanding on how niches of alternative more sustainable consumption and production practices are created, and how they can later be diffused or mainstreamed.

<p>As an component of the project &quot;Scientific Analyses of EU Climate and Energy Package&quot;, Ecologic Institute is organizing a series of events. This series aims to strengthen the energy and climate dialogue between Germany and other EU Member States. The first conference was held in Budapest on 30 and 31 January 2012.</p>