The complex interactions between nature, climate change, and mental health are being increasingly explored amid increasing environmental challenges facing society. This study explores these connections, focusing on (1) how mental health is affected by the effects of a changing climate in Europe, and (2) how green spaces and nature-based solutions can play a role in reducing and treating those negative effects. The research uncovers the transformative power of promoting a harmonious relationship with the natural world to nurture our collective ecological and social resilience.

The current evaluation of the Masterplan Municipality Guideline for the 2016 to 2019 funding period is now available. Within this funding period, 13.5 million euros were given to 22 municipalities to finance and implement master plans that would lead the municipalities to climate neutrality by 2050. As a result, the supported municipalities could achieve greenhouse gas savings amounting to 1.2 million tons over a period of 10 years.

The evaluation of the municipal networks for the period 2018 to 2021 is now published and available for download. 28 projects were funded with Euro 5.66 million, and municipalities contributed almost Euro 3.8 Mio. own revenue for the networking activities. Over the evaluation period, the networks contributed to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 69.2 thousand tonnes of CO2.

This document outlines the development and structure of the EU Procedural Governance Inventory created within the scope of Work Package 5.2 of the 4i-TRACTION project. The inventory's objective is to present a list of the most important frameworks, institutions, and instruments that are relevant to procedural climate governance in the EU.

This study aims to contribute to the further development of the Member States' reporting to the EU with regard to the National Energy and Climate Change Plans (NECPs), especially with regard to the national progress reports, the NECP updates and a possible revision of the Governance Regulation. The authors developed an in-depth understanding of the selected PaMs and the methodological and systemic uncertainties involved in their ex-ante and ex-post impact assessment.

The latest evaluation of the innovative climate protection projects for the period 2020 to 2021 is now available. During this evaluation period, the projects accomplished an additional 0.41 million metric tonnes of CO2 reductions, alongside notably higher indirect reductions. The projects were able to trigger transformation by empowering their target groups to question, change and replace prevailing structures, established practices and techniques. At the same time, their predominantly national coverage as well as visibility, comprehensibility and connectivity for the target group and imitators contributed to a high transformational outcome.

The latest "Green Deal – Big Deal?" podcast episode, hosted by Ricarda Faber and Aaron Best of Ecologic Institute, features interview guests Professor Johan Lilliestam of the Research Institute for Sustainability Helmholtz Centre Potsdam (RIFS) and Dr. Andrzej Ancygier of Climate Analytics. During the discussion, they shed light on the past, present and future of renewables in the EU, describing the major market shifts, policy events and technological developments that have made renewable energy one of the most exciting facets of achieving sustainability in Europe.

This paper examines to what extent and how Member States have met the obligation to carry out multilevel climate and energy dialogues. It does so on the basis of national reporting on the mandatory implementation of multilevel climate and energy dialogues (MLCEDs) against the requirements set out in Article 11 of the Governance Regulation.

This policy paper serves as a German translation of a memo on the 'Landscape of climate framework laws in Europe'. It provides a brief overview of the current status of national climate laws in Europe. It focuses in detail on the pending revisions to the German Climate Protection Law passed in 2019 and amended in 2021.

The EEA organised a foresight workshop on 12 October 2023 to discuss scenarios for EU environment and sustainability policy in the 2024-2029 policy cycle, with the aim of exploring possible future configurations of EU environment and climate policies and related implications. The results of the foresight workshop are also meant to inform the content and the characterisation of future policy scenarios in the 2024 edition of the EEA's Sustainability Transitions Outlook report. The Ecologic Instituted contributed to this process by supporting the concept development for the workshop, by facilitating two of four scenario groups at the foresight workshop, and by documenting outcomes.

This article illustrates the communication strategies that were successfully applied in the citizen science program Plastic Pirates in Germany. The program engages schoolchildren, teachers and youth groups in plastic pollution research. A variety of communication strategies have been implemented and continuously revised and adapted since the start of the program in 2016.

In this interview with klimafakten.de, Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf from Ecologic Institute talks about the results of two recent surveys about polarization on the topic of climate change in the German society, and discusses their significance for the climate movement.

How can water bodies become more resilient in the face of increasing droughts and heavy rainfall events? Which adaptation measures can be combined well and which are in conflict with each other? What is the potential of selected measures and how likely is their implementation in specific future scenarios?

The issue of fish protection and downstream fish migration is discussed intensively - even controversially - between and within the individual disciplines and areas of competence, both from a technical and an environmental policy perspective. The German Participatory Forum on Fish Protection and Downstream Migration has been dedicated to this discussion since 2012. This report, which concludes the German Participatory Forum on Fish Protection and Downstream Migration summarizes a selection of key issues from the forum's workshops across six central topics.

This policy brief examines the Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) approach, considering global (e.g., the Bonn Challenge) and regional (e.g., AFR100) initiatives for restoring (forest) ecosystems, among others, and assesses their contribution to the UN multilateral goals.