This final report assesses the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) provisions of the SUP-Directive with a view to its implementation in the Member States. The focus of this analysis lays on those aspects that represent novelties as compared to other EU legislation on EPR, and thus raise legal questions that have not been addressed before, especially regarding the cleaning up of litter from relevant SUP products.

The central objective of the work presented in this report was to assess the European Commission's Strategic Long-Term Vision and supplementary materials and reflect on them in light of state-of-the-art sector analyses.

As the war in Ukraine escalates, the climate crisis continues. But environmental policy in particular could build important bridges, reminds Dr. Camilla Bausch Scientific & Executive Director of Ecologic Institute. In an interview with Elisabeth von Thadden, she discusses, among other things, the environmental impact of the war and the dichotomy over Ukraine's demand to the secretariats of thirteen major international environmental agreements to exclude Russia from relevant decision-making bodies and suspend Russian membership in the agreements.

This article emphasizes the significant role of culture in shaping and utilizing climate services, which are crucial for achieving climate resilience and sustainable development in various regions. By incorporating cultural perspectives, the development of climate services can be tailored to meet the specific needs and values of local communities, enhancing their effectiveness and relevance.

R. Andreas Kraemer, founder of the Ecologic Institute and co-chair of the investment committee of the Ökovision Fund, puts it in a nutshell: "Neither nuclear power nor coal can replace gas or oil from Russia, and right now it is becoming clear how important energy efficiency and renewable energies are. We at Ökovision are counting on this and see no reason to reconsider our strict criteria". The article in the magazine "Finanztest" also shows that there are large grey areas in sustainable investment because criteria are formulated and applied differently. Especially with index funds or ETFs, investors cannot be sure how their money is invested.

This documentation summarizes the main interim results of the four-hour online workshop "Targets and Indicators for the Protein Transition in Germany" with 35 experts.

The German Federal Constitutional Court's decision of March 2021 declared the Climate Change Act partially unconstitutional because it did not sufficiently protect fundamental rights. While the Court upheld the Act's objective of climate neutrality by 2050 and emission budgets until 2030, it held that the Climate Change Act violated fundamental rights for the time after 2030: The specific emissions budgets until 2030 entailed that strict measures would likely be required after 2030 in order to achieve climate neutrality. The Climate Change Act failed to sufficiently address in advance how this would affect individual freedoms. Dr. Ralph Bodle and Dr. Stephan Sina provide an overview of the main findings of the decision as well as the ensuing amendments to the Climate Change Act, which were passed within just a few months after the decision and are subject to new constitutional challenges.

In the first episode of the Green Deal – Big Deal? podcast we unpack the European Green Deal and discuss its importance with our guests Dr Hans Bruyninckx (European Environment Agency) and Dr Åsa Persson (Stockholm Environment Institute).

On the 4 April 2022 another online workshop on the socio-ecological transformation of the food system in Germany took place as part of the STErn project led by Ecologic Institute. The aim of the event was to discuss with 35 experts main behavioral drivers that are relevant for increasing diets that are more plant-based and declining the consumption of animal products. On this basis, policy options in Germany were evaluated and discussed.

The transition to renewable energies and persistent bottlenecks in the German transmission grid represent key challenges for the German electricity supply system in terms of the need for security of supply. A so-called capacity mechanism could be an important solution to this. On behalf of the four German transmission system operators (TSOs) Amprion GmbH, TenneT TSO GmbH, 50Hertz Transmission GmbH and TransnetBW GmbH, the foundations of a capacity mechanism for the German electricity market that is compatible with the European legal framework for the energy market and European state aid law are therefore to be developed. In an interdisciplinary research team led by Consentec, the Ecologic Institute is responsible for examining energy law issues in the project.

In this project, Ecologic Institute, Öko-Institut and Schnittstelle Boden develop legal options for revising the German Federal Soil Act and draft potential corresponding amendments. This is one of the objectives in the German Government's 2021 Coalition Agreement and the research is funded by the German Environment Agency.

The main element of this project was the implementation of the international expert workshop "Fostering applied research on the synergies between biodiversity and climate", which took place online between 8 and 9 June 2022. With around 30 leading scientists, 10 presentations of case studies and interactive break-out groups, this workshop enabled lively discussions and insights on opportunities for participatory research for the biodiversity-climate nexus.

Ecologic Institute and the University of Geisenheim will analyse the extent to which measures for strengthening biodiversity have been integrated in the application of urban development funding by German municipalities, and what good practice examples exist. Based on this research, municipalities will be informed about measures that are eligible for urban development funding which are effective in conserving or promoting biodiversity.

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are recognised as cost-effective tools to alleviate pressure during high rainfall events while producing wider societal and environmental benefits, but uptake is limited in practice due to lacking evidence. The NICHES project – Nature's Integration in Cities' Hydrologies, Ecologies and Societies – aims to fill this gap by adopting a holistic social-ecological-technical systems (SETS) approach to explore the potential of urban NBS as an alternative to the costly renewal of grey wastewater systems. Five global cities – Barcelona, Berlin, Boston, Sheffield, and Rotterdam – will be utilized to co-create knowledge and develop a shared understanding of restorative NBS that can be applied to avoid storm-water run-off and negative impacts for aquatic biodiversity.