EUROSTAT has commissioned a consortium led by the WU Vienna and including the Ecologic Institute, INFRAS and Haymarket to develop two publications on the EU sustainable development indicators. The consortium will produce a manual for the SDS indicators aiming to explain the indicators to potential users and a guide that will be used to advertise the SDS indicators to a lay audience at the Rio+20 summit.

As part of the German Energy Agency's Annual Conference of Biogas Partnerships, Dr. Wolfgang Urban (Ecologic Institute) informed the participants about the role of biogas in the Renewable Energies Act (EEG). He explained the political guidelines of the Germany Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, and presented monitoring results as well as principal changes in the new EEG. The presentation slides are available for download.

This article provides a stock-take of the state of the European Union's (EU) position heading into the climate change negotiations in Durban in late 2011. A long-time champion of an effective global system under the auspices of the UN, the EU finds itself in a difficult position as the future of the Kyoto Protocol is seen to being a stake at the summit in South Africa. With a number of other industrialised countries jumping ship and declaring their unwillingness to continue the Protocol in a Second Commitment Period, the EU is feeling ever more exposed and under pressure to declare for the continuation of Kyoto.

Technology transfer is an important part of ongoing efforts at climate change mitigation and adaptation, and a central issue in negotiations between developed and developing countries. In a German publication for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Christiane Gerstetter summarises the state of the debate prior to the Durban climate summit.

This study aimed to address current knowledge gaps regarding the uptake and implementation of ecosystem-based approaches, and thereby gain a better understanding of their role and potential in climate change adaptation and mitigation in Europe.

"Limited Freedom above the Clouds: Aviation Becomes Part of European Emissions Trading Scheme" was the topic of the 20th Climate Talk, hosted by Dr. Camilla Bausch and Benjamin Görlach of the Ecologic Institute, as well as Dr. Susanne Dröge of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) on 21 November 2011.

Fostering sustainable industries and industrial development requires the use of effective indicators. Though a multitude of indicators exist, their applicability to sustainable industries remains largely unaddressed to date. In this project, Ecologic Institute reviewed scientific knowledge in order to evaluate existing indicators and derive recommendations concerning their usability and potential need for further indicator development. Ecologic Institute published a shorter version of the project results as a policy brief. The policy brief is available for download.