In its Europe 2020 strategy, the EU has set itself the challenge of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, including the shift to a low carbon economy in 2020. To map out ex-ante pathways for the low-carbon transition and to monitor Member States’ progress towards this objective, new monitoring tools are needed. Together with Belgian, British and Polish researchers, Ecologic Institute has identified and evaluated options for monitoring the structural change to a low-carbon economy.

The Arctic is often referred to as the bellwether of global climate change. According to the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment and the most recent assessment from IPCC, the warming rate is twice that of the global average, with predictions of further increases leading to substantial loss of Arctic sea ice and large-scale thawing of the permafrost. The Arctic has also been a bellwether for the impact of long-range transboundary air pollution, both regarding human health and how pollutants affect wildlife. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals (e.g. mercury) are transported long distances through air and water, are deposited in the Arctic and bioaccumulate through the food chain. Some indigenous peoples have a high exposure to these pollutants, primarily through their diet. The goal of this project is to improve the effectiveness of EU environmental policies with respect to the Arctic region.

On 14 December 2009, the critically acclaimed documentary film “The End of the Line” had its German premiere in Berlin. It was the first major feature documentary film revealing the devastating impact of overfishing on our oceans. The screening (with German subtitles) was followed by a panel discussion on the EU Common Fisheries Policy.

<p> International climate negotiations featured in a panel discussion on 2 December 2009 at the Center for German and European Studies of Brandeis University in Boston, where the Ecologic Institute was asked to provide expert insights on the likely outcome of the Copenhagen climate change summit later that month. Titled &ldquo;Copenhagen Climate-Change Conference: What is the Deal? Global Perspectives on a Failed Global Climate Change Agreement&rdquo;, this panel attracted a large number of participants to discuss the prospects for a legally binding climate change agreement.</p>

<p>The international debate on biofuels is mostly dominated by environmental and economic aspects while the question of how biofuels can be produced in a socially acceptable way is not systematically tackled. The project "Biofuel as Social Fuel" examines for two regions in Germany and Brazil the social dimension of biofuel production. Timo Kaphengst gave a lecture at the project`s kick-off event stressing the role of certification systems in biofuel governance.</p>&#13;

What is the state of sustainable development in the European Union? The 2009 Eurostat monitoring report reviews the progress and implementation of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy. The 2009 monitoring report was published on the Eurostat website.

<p>&#13; Christiane Gerstetter, Fellow at the Ecologic Institute, contributed a paper to and gave a presentation at the Amsterdam Conference on the Human Dimensions on Global Environmental Change. She discussed how the Dispute Settlement Bodies of the World Trade Organization (WTO) deal with international environmental law, thus contributing to the conference’s section on actors in international environmental governance. The paper and the presentation are available for download.</p>&#13;