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.

The expert dialogue aims at informing and discussing the implementation of Re-Use and recycling measures for insulation materials. The Berlin Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection, the "Verband für Dämmsysteme, Putz und Mörtel" (Association for Insulation Systems, Plaster and Mortar) and the "Gesamtverband Deutscher Holzhandel" (German Timber Trade Association) invite you to attend – alongside around 250 expected participants – the Webinar, taking place on 6 October 2021. Ecologic Institute supports organising and implementing the event logistically and technically.

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.

Europe's environment is in an alarming state, with climate change expected to further aggravate the situation. This substantially threatens economic prosperity, human wellbeing and social peace. Our society and economy need systemic transformative change, and ecosystem restoration integrated into nature-based solutions lies at its heart. MERLIN (Mainstreaming Ecological Restoration of freshwater-related ecosystems in a Landscape context: Innovation, upscaling and transformation) is a 4-year Innovation Action project (funded by the EU) which aims to support transformative ecosystem restoration. The project will work in 17 flagship projects, from Finland to Israel, in order to generate a blueprint for to implement, upscale and replicate restoration and nature based solutions in freshwater ecosystems.

The project "Information and teaching materials for an environmentally conscious use of pharmaceuticals", led by Ecologic Institute, aimed to promote an environmentally responsible use of human pharmaceuticals and to anchor the topic of pharmaceuticals and the environment in pharmaceutical and medical teaching. The overriding goal is to reduce the entry of pharmaceuticals into the environment and their effects on animals and plants. To this end, freely available teaching materials are developed for university teaching, for professional trainings and for vocational schools. In addition, customer information materials on the proper use and disposal of medicines were created and disseminated. Finally, all information and materials were made available on an online information platform at www.uba.de/ham.

The formulation and implementation of climate adaptation plans in cities worldwide needs to speed up rapidly to keep in pace with projections of climate risks. The research project: "Resilience in Europe through Activating City Hubs reaching Out to Users with Triple-A climate adaptation Tools" (REACHOUT) aims to support the implementation of the European Green Deal by developing user-oriented climate services. It is funded through the European Commission's Horizon 2020 programme. Research partners, climate service providers and city stakeholders are co-developing a coherent set of tools and services for seven City Hubs (Cork, Ireland; Athens, Greece; Lillestrøm, Norway; Milan, Italy; Logroño, Spain; Gdynia, Poland; and Amsterdam/APG, the Netherlands).