This paper focuses on co-creation for nature-based solutions, providing practical examples and guidance for local decision-makers. It sheds light on the effective utilization of co-governance approaches, encouraging participatory processes and collaborative creation in the realm of nature-based solutions.
This publication provides a quantitative overview of the development and status of environmental crime in Germany between 2010 and 2020, with a supplementary presentation for the year 2021, based on data from the police crime statistics ("Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik"), as well as statistics from the Federal Statistical Office's criminal prosecution ("Strafverfolgungsstatistik"). The report provides both an overview of general trends and an in-depth account of individual environmental offences. Additionally, the publication contains data on administrative offences relating to the trafficking of protected species. The report was prepared by a team from Ecologic Institute on behalf of the German Federal Environment Agency.
This policy brief takes stock of the existing JETPs and draws some preliminary conclusions. More-over, it discusses some of the challenges JETP face and how JETPs may be improved. Lastly, we outline some recommendations for the G7 and G20.
Households across Germany felt the weight of 2022's energy crisis, grappling with a dramatic increase in energy prices. Overall energy costs in Germany surged by 31% in 2022 compared to the previous year. To combat the adverse impacts of the 2022 energy crisis, Germany passed three major relief packages in 2022. This country briefing paper describes Germany’s policy response to the energy crisis of 2022 and provides a microsimulation-based summary of the distributional effects of energy price shocks on German households.
On 28 June 2023, participants joined webinar hosts Ricarda Faber and Aaron Best from Ecologic Institute and their two expert guests: Humberto Delgado Rosa (Director for Biodiversity at the European Commission) and Sabien Leemans (Senior Biodiversity Policy Officer for WWF). Together, they discussed what can be done to restore ecosystems and protect biodiversity in the EU, as well as the new Nature Restoration Law proposed by the European Commission.
The EU Climate Law legally binds EU countries as a whole to become climate neutral by 2050. Achieving this goal requires transforming the way we produce, consume, travel, and eat. EU institutions have already put in place many measures to guide and support governments, businesses, and citizens in this transition. To be effective, policy-makers must now understand how – and at what pace – these measures translate into changes in the real world. The European Climate Neutrality Observatory (ECNO) flagship report is the first ever assessment to provide this information at an economy-wide level.
ECNO's first annual flagship report on the EU's progress to net zero was presented on 26 June 2023 at the official Brussels launch of the initiative. The report is based on a vision of a climate neutral future composed of 13 essential sectoral and horizontal net-zero "building blocks".
The Climate Framework Laws Info-Matrix aims to collect, organize, and present information on the status and substance of national climate framework laws in Europe. It presents a side-by-side comparison of existing laws and their provisions across five main areas: targets, planning tools, monitoring mechanisms, institutions for expert advice, and participation processes.
The 2nd episode of the 4i-TRACTION podcast uncovers the pivotal role of innovation in European climate policy. The hosts, together with climate experts Brendan Moore (Centre for Environment, Economy and Energy of the Brussels School of Governance) and Harm Rienks (Wageningen University and Research), discuss the concrete instruments which the EU uses to promote innovation.
Politics needs polarization, but too much of it is problematic. The German climate debate has long been characterized by a healthy degree of polarization. At present, however, there is a danger of excessive polarization, writes Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf in the Tagesspiegel. His OpEd discusses solutions.
On 21 June 2023, the final conference of the "Dialogforum private Haushalte" (dialogue forum private housholds) took place at TU Berlin. During the conference, the project team presented the results of their various data collection-efforts, including those of the Citizen Science Project "Deutschland rettet Lebensmittel" (Germany saves food), as well as representative surveys. These provide important insights into the effectiveness of measures to reduce food waste in private households.
This study analyzes different approaches to ensure the competitiveness of export-oriented companies and evaluates them based on different criteria. While a free allocation of certificates as well as export subsidies score poorly in the evaluation, the study authors recommend targeted innovation promotion as a particularly beneficial policy instrument.
At the Webinar "Making Carbon Removals a Real Climate Solution – How (not) to integrate carbon removals into EU climate policies" a new Ecologic paper with the same title will be presented.
This report discusses the question of what degree of importance German environmental policy should attach to the regionalization of value chains and the role this approach might play in a socio-ecological transformation of the food system.
European cities are to implement the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 with ambitious urban nature plans. Geisenheim University and Ecologic Institute are looking for municipalities that want to find out to what extent their open space concepts, biodiversity strategies, climate adaptation concepts, etc. can be considered an Urban Greening Plan, or how they can develop an Urban Greening Plan. What we offer is to provide advice and guidance to help you develop lessons that can be shared with other municipalities. Please register by the end of July 2023.