Energy prosumption through the deployment of residential renewable energy technologies reduces greenhouse gas emissions, speeds up the energy transition and provides important community benefits. In a new report, the European Environment Agency assesses energy prosumption models used throughout the EU and recommends policy tools that can allow even more EU citizens to benefit from energy prosumption. The publication builds on a study produced by CE Delft, Fraunhofer ISI and Ecologic Institute.

The International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP) resumed in-person trainings with the 2022 edition of its flagship training activity, the two-week ICAP Summer School on Emissions trading. The training took place in Florence (Italy) from 22 August to 2 September 2022. Participation in the summer school was open to applicants from emerging economies and developing countries. The course was aimed at public officials or stakeholders from the non-governmental, academic and private sectors who are or will be involved in deciding on, designing and implementing carbon pricing mechanisms.

In this open access book, Dr. Josselin Rouillard together with Christina Babbitt (Environment Defense Fund, U.S.), Edward Challies (University of Canterbury, New Zealand) and Jean-Daniel Rinaudo (BRGM, France) compile an international account of water allocation policies supporting a transition to sustainable water use in regions where agriculture is the dominant water use.

In an interview with Sinan Reçber of the Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel, Rodrigo Vidaurre and Benedict Bueb of Ecologic Institute discussed what measures can be taken in various sectors to lessen the impact of droughts in Germany. In addition to water-sensitive urban development, which increasingly relies on nature-based solutions to store water during dry periods, this includes the cultivation of drought-resistant agricultural varieties as well as the rewetting of peatlands.

On 16 and 17 August 2022, the 3rd International Forum on Urbanism – Portoviejo Vision 2035, for urban development and design of cities on a human scale with a focus on climate change, was held in the Las Vegas Park in the city of Portoviejo. Natalia Burgos Cuevas, Researcher at Ecologic Institute, was invited as keynote speaker to talk about on the promotion of nature-based solutions in Latin America drawing on the insights gathered from the Urban Governance Atlas, developed in INTERLACE.

In the context of the political goal of strengthening the reuse of used goods, the project aimed at supporting and executing re-use measures in Berlin in order to foster structures and actors in Berlin that bring the used goods market out of its niche. To do so, the project drew on the practical experience of initial pilot tests in 2018, networking activities since 2019 and the opening of the Re-Use Superstore in 2020.

Roofs still offer enormous potential for solar electricity generation. In order to achieve the ambitious expansion targets of the German government, this potential must be raised. In a new project, Ecologic Institute and the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) analyze different system concepts and evaluate their economic viability. Existing barriers to the expansion of photovoltaic systems on buildings are identified and the extent to which the Renewable Energy Sources Act 2023 will remove these barriers is examined. As a result of the project, recommendations for further improvements of the regulatory framework will be elaborated.

The biodiversity and climate crises are increasingly threatening planetary biodiversity and dependent livelihoods. Linkages between these two crises are already recognised by science and policy, but they are still not sufficiently addressed in integrated manner in practice. Nature-based solutions (NBS) and ecosystem-based approaches have the potential to enhance these synergies and deliver multiple benefits for ecosystems, biodiversity, climate change mitigation and adaptation, human well-being among other objectives. This topic was explored during the "International workshop on strengthening synergies for biodiversity and climate in multifunctional landscapes", organized by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN). Sandra Naumann, Senior Fellow at the Ecologic Institute, was a keynote speaker, presenting on the potential but also limitations of NBS to achieve climate and biodiversity goals.

In the fourth episode of the "Green Deal – Big Deal?" podcast, we ask our expert guests about the food systems approach adopted by the "Farm to fork" strategy and investigate how the strategy will impact producers, consumers and the global food markets. We discuss strategies to address food waste and explore why meat is a politically sensitive topic.

Despite the widely recognised need to quickly move away from fossil fuels, particularly coal, many countries continue to invest in this highly polluting source of energy. Despite highly country-specific contexts, Ecologic Institute's Dr. Michael Jakob and Prof Dr. Jan C. Steckel (MCC/BTU) found that countries can be grouped into four broad clusters: those that have already announced coal phaseouts; those where coal use is in the process of being phased in; established users of the fuel; and major coal exporters. This guest post briefly presents the key findings of the recently published book, "The Political Economy of Coal".

BE Rural developed and piloted a new framework to help decision makers consider ecological limits when drafting regional bioeconomy strategies and roadmaps, and with this to contribute to Priority 3 of the EU Bioeconomy Strategy: "Understand the ecological boundaries of the bioeconomy".

Ecologic Institute developed 3 video tutorials on the use of Climate-ADAPT as part of a 2-year outreach and engagement campaign. The videos are designed to familiarise new users with the information and knowledge available on the platform on adaptation at the local, national, transnational and European levels. They also demonstrate how this information can be used to assess impacts, vulnerability, risks and adaptation options and to develop, implement and evaluate adaptation policies, plans and measures.

Concrete and asphalt make cities up to 10 degrees hotter than the rural areas. In Poland, however, there is a persistent impression that greenspace is a nuisance that is best gotten rid of, says Ewa Iwaszuk of the Ecologic Institute in Berlin. She points out that the situation in Germany is better because nature has been considered an indispensable part of the city since the 1990s. She talks about innovative nature-based solutions that can mitigate climate change in cities and explains the introduction of blue-green infrastructure. Monika Sędzierska from the COSMO editorial office moderated the conversation.

Preparations are currently underway for negotiations on a global plastics treaty. The treaty is intended to respond to the increasing plastic pollution, especially of the oceans, which requires international cooperation along the value chain and thus binding rules at the international level. The timetable for the negotiations is extremely ambitious, with a draft to be available as early as the end of 2024. In her editorial, Heidi Stockhaus highlights the global dimension of the problem and points to the responsibility of Germany and the EU to help the negotiation process succeed.