As Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues to take a heavy toll, the heads of state and government gathering in Versailles today and tomorrow (10-11 March 2022) will need to take actions that support Ukraine while also shoring up the bloc's own strategic autonomy from Moscow. The European Green Deal will be crucial for the success of this strategy. This op-ed, which is available online, explains why.

This introductory overview of international soil governance first outlines essential features of international governance by Dr. Ralph Bodle. At the international level, there is no overarching central or superior authority. Rules and other measures normally do not have direct effect at national level; they need to be implemented by their addressees. In contrast to other environmental topics, states have for a long time been reluctant to engage in soil governance at the international level. As a result, international soil governance is piecemeal and spread over parts of different institutions and processes, each of which has limitations. The Sustainable Development Goal “land degradation neutrality” on its own is not a comprehensive soil policy, but its forward-looking planning element in particular is a useful starting point for guiding national policies and further work. While binding rules are not an end in itself, new treaty obligations relating to soil protection could be useful to address gaps and shortcomings in current governance and focus international commitments. Climate change provides an opportunity to increase soil protection e.g. through the climate regime, but there are also risks if soil protection was pursued solely from a climate perspective.

This report identifies various risks that climate change impacts pose to the critical electric infrastructure in Germany and the United States, including the generation, transmission and distribution facilities, and suggests a political course that both countries can follow. The American States of California and Texas are used as case studies in this report.

In this project, the Ecologic Institute analyzes the political and legal frameworks of all 27 EU Member States relevant for the removal of CO2.

This paper is a slight adaptation of the German-language analysis "Wasserstoffimportsicherheit für Deutschland – Zeitliche Entwicklung, Risiken und Strategien auf dem Weg zur Klimaneutralität", published in December 2021. The analysis takes a close look at Germany’s future need for hydrogen imports, hydrogen import-related risks as well as strategies to secure hydrogen imports.

The German government has put the formation of an 'ambitious, bold, and cooperative' climate club on top of its G7 Presidency agenda. But what is a climate club? And what type of climate club should the German G7 Presidency push toward? This policy brief provides some answers to these questions and formulates recommendations for the German Presidency.

This fact sheet introduces the "Atlas Fischschutz & Fischabstieg" and its contents. The fact sheet "Fischschutz- und Fischabstiegsmaßnahmen – Praxisbeispiele im Überblick (Fish protection and downstream fish migration measures – Practical examples at a glance)" is available for download.

This compendium, published by Ecologic Institute, aims to sharpen relevant terms and thereby aims to contribute to the heterogeneity of the scientific community on "plastics in the environment". In addition, the brochure is intended to help ensure that communication with and by non-scientific actors on the topic is based on a terminologically correct foundation, especially in emotionally charged debates. After all, these debates are often highly relevant in shaping our future, and it seems important that the necessary political, social and economic decisions should be taken based on knowledge and factual information. The compendium is available for download.

Whether or not microplastics have harmful effects on plants and animals has not yet been conclusively established. The different properties of microplastics determine whether and how the microplastics are absorbed by living organisms and whether they are harmful to them. Compared to other pollutants in the environment (e.g. pesticides), microplastics do not have a uniform effect on living organisms. In addition, the effects of microplastics often cannot be distinguished from the harmful effects of other particles and substances found in the environment.

The paper "Making EU Governance Fit for Net Zero" analyses the current landscape of climate policy governance against eight core parameters at EU level and for Member States, and identifies a number of remaining weaknesses. Improvements should address several key processes, such as updating of the NECPs in 2023-2024 and of national LTSs and the new progress and consistency assessments under the EU Climate Law.

The question of the limits to growth is more relevant than ever. Historically, economic growth has almost always been accompanied by increasing environmental damage. The policies of European countries now want to break this historical link through "green growth". The economy should continue to grow, but without negative consequences for the environment. From a scientific perspective, however, it is disputed whether such a decoupling is realistic. Dr. Michael Jakob from Ecologic Institute discussed this apparent contradiction between politics and science with Prof. Dr. Doris Fuchs and Dr. Steffen Lange during a press briefing on 25 February 2022.

The European Environment Agency's report "Costs of Adaptation versus Costs of Inaction" highlights the urgent need for climate change adaptation strategies. In the face of increasing climate events such as heatwaves, forest fires and floods, the report notes that the European Union has already taken important initiatives on adaptation, including the formulation of the EU Adaptation Strategy. This strategy aims to make adaptation measures more efficient, faster and more comprehensive and to increase international readiness to act.

A team at Ecologic Institute has produced new best-practice guidelines for co-creating research. The guidelines are based on experiences gathered in the Horizon 2020 project COACCH (Co-designing the Assessment of Climate Change Costs). The authors summarise an in-depth evaluation carried out over the four-year collaborative research process. Based on this evaluation, the Ecologic Institute team highlights lessons learned and proposes step-by-step guidelines for best-practice in co-creation.

What are possible alternatives to synthetic chemical pesticides without promoting the renaissance of genetic engineering? This brief study intends to provide an overview of the current state of science on possible alternatives to synthetic chemical pesticides and to be understandable for non-experts.