Ecologic Institute has recently launched the Diagnostic Water Governance Tool, which is aimed at both water governance practitioners and researchers around the world. The tool provides a diagnosis of case-specific water governance as well as recommendations for appropriate instruments, with a focus on coordination and cooperation improvement.

This video gives a short introduction to the Diagnostic Water Governance Tool, a comprehensive diagnostic tool to support an integrated management approach in watersheds. Based on the data users enter for their particular case, they not only receive a diagnosis, but also case-specific recommendations for instruments to improve coordination in water management. Practitioners from water administration and management as well as development cooperation and consultancy, but also researchers are the target group of the tool and are invited to try it out.

With 2020 drawing to a close, Dr. Camilla Bausch was invited to contribute to "The World in 2021". This publication is an annual end-of-year publication by ISPI, a leading foreign policy think tank in Italy, on trends, crises and 10 key "questions" that are relevant for the upcoming year.

Ecologic Institute has been contracted to support the European Commission in preparing a draft version of the Guidance on the 2030 Biodiversity Strategy river restoration targets, thereby bringing together existing knowledge and technical input from different contributors into a coherent document.

Governments around the world are considering the introduction of framework laws to strengthen their climate policy. Good practice examples can be found in the experience of the growing number of countries that have already put such legislation in place – and now you can read about them in Spanish, Italian, Greek and Latvian. The summary of Ecologic Institute's 2020 report on climate laws in Europe is now available in multiple languages for use by a wide audience of interested officials and stakeholders.

Invited by the Indian Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), McKenna Davis (Ecologic Institute) joined the "International Knowledge Conclave on Green Infrastructure" and presented on 'Policy instruments to promote urban nature-based solutions in Europe'. She focused on the range of policy, planning and financial instruments relevant for nature-based solution design, implementation and maintenance within a European context. Her presentation slides and a guidance document she co-authored are available for download.

The Climate Action Regulation (CAR aka Effort Sharing Regulation) regulates 57 % of the EU's greenhouse gas emissions. Consequently, the EU cannot achieve its new climate targets without major contributions from the sectors regulated by the CAR. This makes reforming the CAR one of the EU's most important legislative processes in 2021. There are various ideas about how to turn the CAR into a strong driver for achieving the EU's climate targets. This Ecologic Institute paper discusses these ideas, and makes proposals for reform.

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the period 2023-2027 presents new opportunities to support the transition to sustainable agricultural production in Europe. In this project, Ecologic Institute together with a consortium led by Ecorys, supported the European Commission Directorate General for the Environment in their assessment of the new CAP Strategic Plans prepared by Member States.

The policy brief discusses the different policy pathways to reach the climate target, as presented in the EU Commissions Impact Assessement of the 2030 target plan. There are different ways how the EU can reduce emissions to -55%: mainly through tighter regulation and standards, primarily via carbon price or trough a mix of both. The policy mix route may seem most attractive: politically, it is the path of least resistance, as it continues on the current trajectory. And it promises the best of both worlds – the efficiency of carbon pricing and the certainty of regulatory approaches. At the same time, the mix has some conceptual arguments in favor: companion policies, like standards and infrastructure investment, ensure that consumers have more climate-friendly options to choose from and bring down their cost. Thereby, they make it easier to stomach higher carbon prices.

National framework laws represent the most concrete form in which climate governance systems are being established. Globally, the number of such framework laws is growing, with the majority arising around the time of the adoption of the Paris Agreement or shortly thereafter – especially those that include a long-term time horizon (e.g., 2050). Even without a detailed empirical analysis, arguably there has been an evident 'Paris momentum' behind the spread of these national climate laws. In chapter 2 "‘Paris Compatible’ Climate Change Acts? National Framework Legislation in an International World" of the book "National Climate Change Acts. The Emergence, Form and Nature of National Framework Climate Legislation", Matthias Duwe and Dr. Ralph Bodle show how national climate policy is at least partly determined by obligations at the supranational level, in particular of the European Union (EU), and at the international level.

Ramboll and Ecologic Institute joined forces to develop and implement a 2-year outreach and engagement campaign, intended to draw new visitors and users to the Climate-ADAPT platform in five selected Eastern and Central European countries (Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia). The objective of the outreach and user engagement activities was to make new users aware of the huge potential of the Climate-ADAPT and encourage them to share relevant data and information, turning more users from passive consumers of information into proactive providers of information and contributors to the platform.

Doris Knoblauch gave a presentation on plastic waste at the Freudberg School in Berlin on 9 December 2020. The lecture took place as part of the "Plastic Pirates" project.

Diffuse pollution is one of the key reasons European water bodies are failing to meet environmental objectives as specified in the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). Outbreaks of toxic green algae affect rivers, lakes and coastal waters creating so-called "dead zones" where no aquatic life can thrive. Such outbreaks are by-products of dangerously increasing nutrient levels in water. Nutrient and soil losses have been recognised as challenges for decades across Europe and have been a key driver for freshwater biodiversity losses. With climate change, these challenges are likely to get worse: higher temperatures, lower river flows and more frequent and more violent flooding events. Other human-induced changes (such as dams and weirs) have modified the course of rivers and affected their natural flows.

A robust framework is a precondition for the EU to become climate neutral by 2050. Such framework includes, for example, enhanced gross reduction targets for 2030, emission budgets, independent scientific climate advisory bodies, phasing out fossil fuel subsides, and strong support to ensure a just transition in Member States. The spread between national targets from currently 0 % to 40 % should be scaled up, taking into account previous individual emission reduction performance and national capabilities.

The ICAP online ETS Workshop conducted with focus on Latin America under the theme "Emissions Trading in Latin America: Developments on the Ground, Role for Cooperation" was held virtually from 8 to 10 December 2020, convened by the International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP) and co-organized by the Ecologic Institute, Get2C and ICF.