Leading institutes from the fields of sustainability and futures studies welcome the development of a "Future Strategy for Research and Innovation" by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. At the same time, they point out that, while the presented draft provides significant momentum, it does not yet fully consider the societal challenges and the urgency to act.

A research team including Arne Riedel from Ecologic Institute examines the political agency of transnational city alliances – particularly the Arctic Mayors' Forum (AMF) – and their contribution to sustainable urban development in the European Arctic.

On 30 November 2022, the Commission proposed an EU carbon removal certification framework (CRCF). The proposed framework could undermine the environmental integrity of EU climate policies. Within this project, Ecologic Institute and Oeko-Institut assess the Commission's proposal for the CRCF and discusses interlinkages of the CRCF with other pieces of EU climate law.

In this podcast's episode, Benjamin Görlach of the Ecologic Institute, describes how pricing and policy interact to foster a faster energy transition. Interviewed by Michael LaBelle, episode 66 covers everything from the EU's emission trading system, the dominance of electricity for transport and the 4i-TRACTION project – standing for innovation, investment, infrastructure and sector integration.

Representatives from EU institutions and experts from 10 EU Member States discussed the Conference on the Future of Europe (CFE), and its impacts on EU climate and energy policies. Participants also discussed whether citizens' panels should become a standard feature of EU decision-making. The event concluded the project "The Future of the EU – Make Climate Action its Trademark", funded by the European Climate Initiative (EUKI).

All Member States have the same obligation to produce national LTSs under EU law. A team of researchers has now analysed the state of these documents and their relevance in national policy-making for the first time across the EU. This event presents the most important insights from this analysis and seeks to start a conversation with all relevant stakeholders on how to improve their effective use.

The study "Macro-economic / top-down assessment of climate impacts on the EU economy" by Ramboll, SEURECO and Ecologic Institute aims to assist the Commission by providing a solid assessment of the costs of climate impacts in the EU, with a particular focus on the economic and social (distributional) costs which, according to the existing scientific evidence, could be potentially very significant.

Buildings are responsible for more than 30% of the EU's greenhouse gas emissions from energy. To increase energy and resource efficiency, the EU Renovation Wave sets the target of doubling renovation rates in the next ten years. The EU also presents the Renovation Wave as a countermeasure against energy poverty, which currently impacts around 34 million EU residents. However, EU-level analyses which connect the technical aspects of the plan with socioeconomic criteria that account for energy poverty remain scarce. In this paper, Nora Kögel from Ecologic Institute addresses that gap by investigating the distributional effects of reaching the Renovation Wave’s 2030 goals in the EU27 countries.

Strict regulation does not have to stifle the emerging market for green hydrogen — just the opposite, write Benjamin Görlach and Dr. Michael Jakob of Ecologic Institute. They argue that a unified system for monitoring, certifying and tracking green hydrogen production and trade is key to all this. The op-ed can be accessed at the EURACTIV website.

The term "populism" is ubiquitous in political debate nowadays. But not only is the term meaningless - it poses a real problem for democracy and the political debate, writes Dr. Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf in the IPG. The article is available online.

This webinar presents and discusses findings of a report by Energy Policy Group. The analysis focuses on the role of district heating in Member States' Long-term Climate Strategies (LTSs). The report describes the current situation, highlights key challenges and shortcomings of published LTSs, and proposes a way forward for integrating efficient, low-carbon and reliable district heating systems into climate neutrality strategies.

From 7 to 19 December 2022, the international community is scheduled to come together to discuss the future of the Convention on Biological Diversity. One of the key items that will be negotiated at the upcoming COP15 is the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. In the light of these upcoming negotiations on 2 November 2022, the Guarini Center on Environmental, Energy and Land Use Law at New York University School of Law and the German Consulate General in New York organized an event with experts from New York City and Berlin to discuss the role of local governments in implementing global biodiversity targets, including the ways in which cities can support urban biodiversity. Sandra Naumann, Senior Fellow at the Ecologic Institute, presented Berlin's strategy to promote urban biodiversity and participated in the final panel.

Ready4NetZero aims to support small- and medium-sized cities in Poland, Romania, Hungary and Croatia in the development and implementation of local strategies to reach climate neutrality. To do so, the project creates knowledge resources (written guidance) and provides training and capacity building activities (webinars, workshops, a study visit, an international conference) to equip municipal staff with capacities, knowledge, and networks to develop and implement local long-term climate strategies.

In addition to the protection of still intact peatlands, the restoration and sustainable management of previously drained peatland soils are important contributions for protecting biodiversity and the mitigation of climate change. In order to address these needs in a more targeted manner, the Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) published the first National Peatland Protection Strategy in September 2021. Together with DUENE e.V., partner in Greifswald Moor Centrum, Ecologic Institute supports the implementation of the National Peatland Protection Strategy.

This document summarises the results and discussion of the international online expert workshop "Fostering applied research on the synergies between biodiversity and climate".