Ecologic Institute hosted the fourth green salon of the American Voices Abroad on the 16^th of August 2011. Three introductory presentations by Lucas Porsch, Tanja Srebotnjak and Rich Rosen on the need for and the challenges of Beyond GDP indicators triggered a lively discussion on the information needs of policy makers that aim at sustainability. To this end, important similarities and differences were examined in the attitudes to welfare measurement in Europe and the US.


The 2011 Arctic Summer College, hosted by Ecologic Institute, provides a platform for Arctic researchers to debate and develop ideas about a range of issues facing Arctic decision-makers, such as: Arctic economic, environmental and security policy; the impacts of large scale energy projects at the regional scale; and approaches to ecosystem-based management.

Recent years have seen the climate negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change fail to achieve a major breakthrough on climate change mitigation, and no such breakthrough is expected in the near future. In a study commissioned by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Dr. Camilla Bausch and Michael Mehling evaluate various venues and institutions addressing the climate challenge, and assess their influence on the future of global mitigation efforts. The study is available for download.

The OPEN:EU project team assesses the usefulness of the EUREAPA tool for policy makers at various stages in the policy cycle and across relevant policy areas. The report is meant to help users who are new to EUREAPA understand what is behind the tool and what they can use it for. The report is available for download.

The results of a scenario exercise carried out under the OPEN:EU project suggest that the transformation of Europe into a One Planet Economy by 2050 would require very aggressive policy action. The study is available for download.

Leonardo Mazza, Leonardo; Samuela Bassi, Thibaut Henin et. al. 2011: Sustainability Indicators for Policy Making: Green Growth and Green Innovation. Report on the IN-STREAM Workshop of 7 July 2011. IEEP/Ecologic Institute/FEEM: London/Brussels/Berlin/Venice.

This event was the third stakeholder workshop of the FP7 project IN-STREAM and was organised by the Ecologic Institute Berlin and the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP). The focus of this workshop was green growth and green innovation and it brought together experts, statisticians, policy makers and representatives of civil society organisations to discuss and share experiences on how to improve the use of indicators to assess the progresses on economic and sustainability goals. The presentations are available for download.

How can philanthropists make informed and responsible choices when investing the endowment of their foundation? How can they avoid destroying with their investments what they seek to protect with their grants? R. Andreas Kraemer of Ecologic Institute makes concrete suggestions in his article in the summer 2011 Philanthropy Letter of the Fondation de Luxembourg.

As part of the EU's efforts to define its role in Arctic management and decision making, the European Commission Directorate-General for the Environment funded the EU Arctic Footprint and Policy Assessment to determine its impact, responsibilities, and policy options to protect the Arctic. This article summarizes the key findings from the study, and presents an overview of the EU's Arctic footprint. The article is available for download.

EU researchers across an array of projects have produced valuable findings on change, adaptation and development strategies for European mountain regions in recent years. Yet, they often lack resources and experience for disseminating their results to practitioners. This collaborative webplatform, created by Ecologic Institute as part of the mountain.TRIP project, provides scientists with an expandable and user-friendly database of knowledge on communicating research results to practitioners.

"Germany may well be regarded as the nation where the endgame of nuclear power began." Economics, risk assessments and public pressure lead many countries to halt nuclear power and shift to green energy. After an Op-Ed in the San Francisco Chronicle, R. Andreas Kraemer of Ecologic Institute explains in the AICGS Advisor the German decision and its impact on nuclear proliferation.

How does the communication between providers of climate data and political decision makers work? This question was the central point of a three-day workshop held in Berlin and Timmendorfer Beach from 15 to 17 June 2011. Scientists and stakeholders from administrations and political bodies from different Baltic countries first met at Ecologic Institute in Berlin to discuss different aspects of the availability of regional climate facts. The second part of the workshop was held at a local Baltic venue - in Timmendorfer Strand, where a case study on the engagement of local stakeholders was examined.