In this project, Ecologic Institute reviewed and analyzed 17 inspiring examples of how companies and researchers put the circular economy into practice: from the recycling of construction materials and metals, the improvement of sorting and recycling plastics, to new business models that help turn waste into raw materials or keep materials longer in the loop through services.

The project "Elaborating Strategies and Contributions to Implement SDG12 on the National Level for Germany" established systematic activity monitoring for the national and international implementation of SDG 12 by Germany. The aim: to determine the implementation status – in addition to the UN and DNS sustainability indicators for SDG 12 – and derive potential options for action. This report presents the project results.

The climate crisis is impacting cities and communities across the globe. As extreme weather events become increasingly frequent, cities must work together to find effective nature-based solutions (NBS) to adapt to their changing climates. As lead partner in the BEGIN project, the Dutch city of Dodrecht welcomed cities, practitioners, researchers and citizens to join the conversation on the future of livable cities. To this end, the NEXT LEVEL 2021 conference was held as a hybrid event on the 20th of October 2021. Ecologic Institute's McKenna Davis was invited as an expert to present on NBS governance and policy.

The EU's debate on carbon dioxide removals (CDRs) is gaining momentum, but in important parts it is still a mystery. Basics of an EU framework for CDR remain unclear. An EU CDR Strategy could demystify CDRs and help trigger the necessary political debate on CDRs. A paper by Ecologic Institute discusses a CDR strategy for the EU. It examines why the EU should have a CDR strategy, and explores the main elements of a CDR strategy.

The network of independent institutes for environmental and sustainability research marks its tenth anniversary. In 2011, eight non-profit scientific institutions – including Ecologic Institute – joined forces to form the Ecological Research Network (Ecornet). Their goal: to bring scientific work on sustainability, environmental, climate and resource protection even more into the public and political spotlight. Their common goal: to provide a scientific background for shaping a sustainable world, to develop solutions for the necessary changes in economy and society, and to discuss options for action with a wide range of actors.

On 14 October 1971, the Federal Republic's first environmental program was adopted under a social-liberal coalition government. It marks the beginning of an era of political responsibility for man-made changes in nature and the environment, but also the claim to let citizens participate in the political discourse on ecological issues. Finally yet importantly, the environmental program raises the environmental question to a question of social dimension. On the 50th anniversary of the Environmental Program, Ecologic Institute is conducting a contemporary historical study on German environmental policy since 1971 on behalf of the Federal Ministry for the Environment.

Mandy Hinzmann, fellow researcher at the Ecologic Institute, gave a presentation in a scientific session of the World Resources Forum, which took place from 12 until 14 October 2021. She presented key policy options on how to foster the circular economy in the European textiles sector. She also participated in the discussion session after the presentations.

In Berlin, a variety of initiatives show how the economy can be different: with more solidarity, more democracy, more ecological and better for all. We discuss why this is not easy, but can be promising. In the sixth edition of Wandelwecker, our morning impulse for a social and ecological metropolis, we discussed these questions with two experts.

In the "Smart Energy Showcase" programme (SINTEG), more than 300 research institutes and companies in five model regions developed solutions for a future energy system that will be entirely based on renewable energies. The participants not only developed new technologies, processes and market mechanisms, they also proposed changes to the legal framework that would allow those solutions to be scaled up. Commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economics and Energy that initiated SINTEG, Ecologic Institute just published a systematic overview of the issues addressed in these proposals for regulatory change. Moreover, the report discusses the proposals in the context of the ongoing national energy policy debate.

Delivering for "People, Planet, Prosperity" is the proclaimed aim of the Italian G20 Presidency. The question as to how the G20 should work towards this aim was discussed at the Think 20 (T20) Summit in Milan in early October. The T20 Summit brought together 51 speakers, over 800 in-person participants and 16,000 online attendees from all over the world, reaching over 1 million people through social media.

This project looks at the distributional effects of energy tax reform across Europe and develops recommendations for making the reforms socially and environmentally sound. Ecologic Institute contributes to this project with its expertise of German energy taxation and will translate the findings of the modelling exercise to the German context.

Climate lawsuits have become a frequently chosen tool in the fight for more ambitious climate policies in recent years. In the extensive reporting on this topic, one aspect has so far been neglected: the differences between the jurisprudence in the Global South and the Global North. To address the related issues, Verfassungsblog, Völkerrechtsblog and the journal World Comparative Law (WCL) in cooperation with the Ecologic Institute are organizing an online symposium on the subject of "Comparative Climate Litigation in North-South Perspective".

This research report studies the Asian perspectives on a global plastic pollution treaty against the background of a growing momentum for the establishment of a negotiation process during the second part of the fifth session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2) in February 2022. It identifies solutions already pursued by Asian countries to tackle marine plastic pollution, describes the challenges and needs expressed by government officials from the region, and discusses possible treaty elements taking into account experiences of countries in the Asian region.

Many strong economies have developed strategies to foster the circular economy. But what do we know about how these plans impact developing and emerging countries? Do the strategies itself take the effects on developing and emerging countries into account? Which risks and opportunities arise from a shift to a circular economy in industrialised countries to developing and emerging countries? This project analysed some of these effects. The project's key recommendations and highlights are published in the project report.

To strengthen climate protection in Germany, the amendment of the Climate Protection Act in 2021 further tightened the greenhouse gas emission targets for 2030 and set the goal of climate neutrality for the year 2045. An important step in the energy sector is the phase-out of lignite mining and coal-based electricity generation. The decision to phase out lignite mining in Germany by 2038 at the latest does not only affect energy and climate policy. In the coming years, the lignite mining areas will face a fundamental structural change, which is to be flanked with extensive funding and steered in the sense of sustainable spatial development.