Ecologic Legal | Ecologic Institute: Science and Policy for a Sustainable World

Several recent regional trade agreements (RTAs) include provisions on clean energy and on climate action. They may take the form of concrete commitments of reductions of tariffs or non-tariff barriers, or of commitments on institutional collaboration. Many RTAs also contain institutional provisions which are also of relevance to the implementation of existing environmental, including climate-related, commitments. As such, they constitute important opportunities for trade policy to contribute concretely and positively to a scale-up of clean energy and foster climate action.Read more

Event

Discussion

Climate

Environmental Law

Ecologic Legal

Obligations of States to Avert Climate Change

TimeLoc

15 September 2015

Berlin

Germany

Speaker

Dr. Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf

In the "Oslo Principles on Global Climate Change Obligations," a group of high-level lawyers and philosophers addresses obligations of States and enterprises to avert the critical level of climate change – irrespective of already existing obligations resulting from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or a (potential) follow-up agreement to the Kyoto Protocol. The group argues that existing legal sources including human rights law, environmental law and tort law oblige states to take measures leading to drastic emissions reductions that ensure that the global temperature increase does not exceed pre-industrial temperatures by more than 2°C.Read more

Presentation

Substance and Style – How the WTO Adjudicators Legitimize their Decisions

TimeLoc

11 September 2015

Oslo

Norway

Dr. Christiane Gerstetter

The dispute settlement system of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is one of the most active and influential international courts. How the WTO dispute settlement bodies decide cases was the topic of a presentation that Christiane Gerstetter, Senior Fellow in Ecologic's legal team, gave at an international law conference in Oslo. The presentation slides are available for download.Read more

Presentation

Speech

Ecologic Legal

(Preliminary) Results of the EFFACE Research Project

TimeLoc

9 September 2015

Tilburg

Netherlands

Grazia Maria Vagliasindi

Dr. Christiane Gerstetter

In this presentation, Grazia Maria Vagliasindi, University of Catania, and Christiane Gerstetter, Ecologic Institute, presented the results of the EU-funded research project "European Union Action to Fight Environmental Crime" (EFFACE) to an audience of criminologists and police officers. The presentation is available for download.Read more

Event

Conditional INDCs – A New and Unknown Element of the Paris-System

TimeLoc

9 September 2015

Berlin

Germany

The third expert workshop of the discussion series "Improving climate protection – for Paris and beyond" dealt with the topic "Conditional INDCs – A new and unknown element of the Paris-System." The event took place on 9 September 2015 in Berlin.Read more

Project

Energy

Ecologic Legal

Analysis and Structuring of the Comprehensive Energy Law for the Electricity Sector

September 2015 to September 2020

The increased importance of renewable energy for the electricity sector in the context of the energy transition ("Energiewende") requires that the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) be made more consistent with the Energy Act (EnWG). On behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), a consortium of Ecologic Institute, Stiftung Umweltenergierecht, Öko-Institut and the law firm Becker Büttner Held is conducting a project aimed at increasing the comprehensibility and the transparency of the legal framework for the electricity sector in order to help facilitate investments.Read more

Presentation

Speech

Ecologic Legal

The Effectiveness of the EU's Legislative Framework on Environmental Crime

TimeLoc

3 September 2015

Aix en Provence

France

Dr. Christiane Gerstetter

What do we know about the effectiveness of legislation to combat environmental crime within the EU and its Member States? And how can we measure its effectiveness? These were the two core questions that Christiane Gerstetter, Senior Fellow in Ecologic's Legal Team, addressed in a presentation at the conference of the European Environmental Law Forum in September 2015 in Aix-en-Provence. The presentation is available for download.Read more

Publication

Article

Energy

Ecologic Legal

Die Neufassung des Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetzes

Im Rahmen des integrierten Energie- und Klimapakets

This article describes the important changes to the Renewable Energy Sources Act due to the amendment within the framework of the Integrated Energy and Climate Programme of the German government. The article is published in issue 3, volume 19, Zeitschrift für Umweltrecht.

Read more

Project

Economics

Finance

Ecologic Legal

The ILVA Steel Plant in Italy - a Case of Environmental Non-compliance - Briefing for the European Parliament

July 2015 to October 2015

In this project for the ENVI Comittee of the European Parliament (EP), Grazia Maria Vagliasindi, University of Catania, and Christiane Gerstetter, Ecologic Institute, wrote a briefing on the ILVA steel plant Taranto, Italy and its environmental and health impacts. The steel plant is the largest one in the EU; the case illustrates the consequences of companies failing to comply with applicable permits and environmental legislation, and national authorities failing to enforce environmental standards.Read more

Project

Energy

Governance

Ecologic Legal

Technical Requirements for Producers and Consumers in an Electricity System with a Large Share of Renewable Energy

July 2015 to July 2018

The pending transformation of the German and European electricity system resulting from rising shares of renewable energy is triggering new technical requirements for both electricity producers and consumers. These requirements include "network codes", bodies of technical rules for the operation of electricity grids, which are developed by the European Transmission System Operators (TSOs) in their umbrella organization ENTSO-E before being implemented on the national level in the EU Member States.Read more