From urban gardening and networks of sharing to community-owned wind farms: citizens' initiatives emerge all over Europe in a quest to find new answers to today's pressing challenges. This policy brief explores new forms of cooperation between local governments and these bottom-up initiatives. It argues that getting involved with initiatives helps local governments to be an active player in their community's change dynamics. This cooperation furthermore requires new ways of engaging and participating between the groups.

Action research is the collaborative production of scientifically and socially relevant knowledge through a participatory process. Real-life problems are addressed and new theoretical insights gained. This research brief introduces the concepts of action research, sustainability transitions, and transition management. It presents key issues for conducting action research and how these have been dealt with in the practice of the research teams in the three communities of the InContext project. Furthermore it reflects on the role of the action researcher. The research brief is available for download.

As part of the project InContext, Ecologic Institute has designed four posters concerned with sustainable lifestyle initiatives in the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria. The posters, illustrated with photos and maps, provide in-depth information on the process and results of the initiatives. They were displayed at the final project conference of InContext and are available for download.

On 6–7 June 2013, the final conference of InContext, together with the Informed Cities Forum 2013, took place in Berlin. It provided a creative platform for local initiatives, policymakers, and researchers to exchange insights, ideas, and experiences on transition processes. At the core of the conference was the question of how to create space for change and move towards better places, stronger communities, and resilient societies.

This monthly progress update is compiled by eclareon and Ecologic Institute and shows which policies and measures aiming at reducing greenhouse gas emissions are currently discussed, implemented or deleted in the different Member States. The update includes policies and measures in the area of environmental taxation, energy supply and in particular energy supply from renewable sources, energy networks, energy efficiency, transport as well as agriculture and waste. The updates are available for download.

In this book chapter, Sandra Cavalieri and R. Andreas Kraemer of Ecologic Institute present policy options for the EU and the US for addressing challenges in the changing Arctic, summarizing key findings of the transatlantic Arctic Transform dialogue. The book "Environmental Security in the Arctic Ocean" documents the proceedings of the 2010 NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) in Cambridge, England, that was initiated and co-convened by Ecologic Institute.

Ranging from climate policies over the UN Convention on Biological Diversity to biofuels and resource efficiency policies, this paper summarizes the most important political starting points for a more sustainable land use. It has been developed within the project GLOBALANDS and presents the main results of the analysis of more than 120 policies worldwide. The analysis focuses on the policies' objectives and mechanism as well as their relevance for sustainable land use. The full report will be available in August 2013.

You may have read in the press about medicines, like antibiotics and the pill, being found in rivers and lakes, and even in drinking water. Is this true? How do drugs get there, and do they have effects? Is there anything being done to address this? Can I do anything to help?

The Committee of the Regions (CoR) conducted a survey to assess the "Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion", a flagship initiative of the Europe 2020 Strategy between February and May 2013. The survey summarized in this report seeks to assess the effects and improvements achieved by the "Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion" (EPAPSA) from the perspective of local and regional authorities.

This report presents the results of the survey on policy options for promoting the use of an EU-wide carbon calculator. It describes the methodology of the project, analyses the results and the strengths and weaknesses of each policy option and draws conclusions based on the results. The report is available for download.

In May 2014, the 7th ICAP Training Course on Emissions Trading brought together 25 experts from China and South Korea to learn about emissions trading as a tool for climate protection and to discuss the options of implementing such systems in developing countries. The session in Beijing was the seventh of its kind and continues a series of past ICAP events held in other cities including Berlin, The Hague, Madrid, Dublin and Alajuela / Costa Rica. Michael Mehling, Benjamin Görlach and Matthias Duwe facilitated the course.

Arne Riedel, Researcher at Ecologic Institute, presented the institutional framework for the Arctic and its changes as well as the possible influence of Arctic Council observers. Taking the expansion of regional interests into account, the presentation also examined the role of Arctic Council observer states in the possible concept of an "Arctic Community." He outlined the possibilities for observer states to influence the policies of Arctic states within and outside of the Arctic Council and concluded such observer states have been (and will likely remain) demanding actors in Arctic governance. The presentation slides are available for download.

In this journal article, the authors – among them Darla Nickel and Melissa Keeley, both Ecologic Institute alumnae – analyze the stormwater infrastructure of the two cities. The focus lies on the question of how green and grey infrastructure can most successfully be combined and integrated for rain-water management. While grey infrastructure refers to conventional piped drainage and water treatment systems, the term "green infrastructure" encompasses land and plant based ecological treatment systems and processes. The report can be purchased on the homepage of the publisher "Springer-Verlag".