cologic taught a Johns Hopkins Summer School on European Environmental Politics on 9-20 June 2008. Ecologic staff members and guest speakers conducted lessons on subjects, ranging from European Integration to European Water Policies. Johns Hopkins students also met with a variety of stakeholders in Berlin and Brussels to discuss European Environmental Policy.

As an input to the European Parliament (EP) debate on the EU Climate Package, Ecologic led the organisation of a workshop entitled "Effort sharing under the Climate Package - assessing the role of the Clean Development Mechanism" on behalf of the EP directorate for Internal Policies. The workshop was held on 3 June 2008 at the European Parliament. It was chaired by Satu Hassi, MEP, and moderated by R. Andreas Kraemer, Director of Ecologic.

Martinez, Grit and Alexander Neubauer 2008: Identification and assessment of training needs, methods and activities for the wider use of environmental technologies in key sectors, Brussels.

This Policy Brief is intended to reflect the conclusions from the ETTAR (Environmental Technologies, Training and Awareness-Raising) project so far and develop policy recommendations based on these conclusions. The ETTAR project is a project under the 6th Framework Programme (financed by the European Commission) and deals with the promotion of environmental technologies in the freight transport sector. The Policy Brief has been agreed within the ETTAR team and is directed at stakeholders in the freight transport sector, such as policy makers, logistics associations and transport NGOs. The report is available for download.

This study is a survey of current practice and possible development of measures in the field of sustainable development regarding large retailers. The study also develops a methodology to measure sustainable development in the field of large retailers.

Within the framework of the Integrated Energy- and Climate Programme, the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), Renewable Energies Heat Act (EEWärmeG) and the legal framework concerning the use of Biogas are drafted. Ecologic acts as a consultant to the German Federal Ministry within this legal framework and gives technical advise relating to questions of biogas.

In recent years, the debate on trade and the environment seemed to lose some of its earlier controversy: after a string of highly polarizing cases before the WTO, the Appellate Body’s Article 21.5 Implementation Report in the Shrimp/Turtle case appeared to finally herald a period of reconciliation between free trade and environmental concerns. Upon closer analysis, however, this assessment proves to be misleading: as a matter of substantive law, the chasm between both issue areas is still substantial.

Best, Aaron, Stefan Giljum, Craig Simmons, Daniel Blobel, Kevin Lewis, Mark Hammer, Sandra Cavalieri, Stephan Lutter and Cathy Maguire. 2008. Potential of the Ecological Footprint for monitoring environmental impacts from natural resource use: Analysis of the potential of the Ecological Footprint and related assessment tools for use in the EU's Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources. Report to the European Commission, DG Environment.

Braat. L et al. 2008: The Cost of Policy Inaction (COPI): The case of not meeting the 2010 biodiversity target. Alterra Wageningen University and Research; Institute for European Environmental Policy (IIEP); Ecologic; Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM); GHK; Milieu en Natuurplanbureau; United Nations Environmental Programme - World Conservation Monitoring Centre; Witteveen en Bos, Wageningen / Brussels, commissioned. ISBN: ENV.G.1/ETU/2007/0044.

In January 2008, the European Commission published ambitious targets with regard to the future share of biofuels in the transport sector. By 2020, 10% of the fuels used in transport shall be biofuels. Furthermore, in the climate policies of individual Member States, biofuels also play an important role. However, more and more critics argue against the use of bio-energy. Controversies emerge concerning the climate footprint of bio-energy and the effects of biomass use on biodiversity and food security. The Climate Talk convened experts who discussed potential strategies to address these problems.

The German Federal Ministry for the Environment is currently working on legally binding requirements concerning the use of mineral waste in construction and in soil. A first draft of an Ordinance laying down requirements on the use of mineral secondary construction material in technical buildings (ErsatzbaustoffV) amending the Federal Soil Protection Ordinance (BBodSchV) was completed on 13 November 2007. This workshop taking place in Dessau on 20-21 May 2008 was dedicated to assessing the impacts of the Ordinance and thereby complemented consultations with the Bundesländer, stakeholders and other Ministries.

Within the framework of this project, the Ecologic Institute carried out a feasibility study in order to assess the chances and limits of a potential Sustainability Award. The goal was to define the focus of the possible award with regards to its content and strategic orientation.