Drawing on our evaluation of ten existing carbon farming standard approaches to safeguard and promote biodiversity, this infographic proposes a differentiated approach to safeguarding and enhancing biodiversity in carbon farming standards.

This article written by Dr. Ulf Stein and Benedict Bueb from Ecologic Institute together with researchers of the French National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRAE) presents insights of two case studies, in Paris and Berlin, which investigated the potential of two mobile applications to make urban water management visible to the public and thus increase awareness about certain water management aspects.

This report outlines how fossil fuel subsidies could be reformed to simultaneously address social issues in the short term without jeopardizing progress towards long-run climate targets. It first provides a concise overview of fossil fuel subsidies in the G20. It then discusses alternative ways to shield consumers against the effects of higher energy prices. Finally, it provides recommendations how the G20 could work toward socially balanced energy pricing.

This report examines the mitigation potential of climate friendly soil management practices at global, EU and German level, along with key management measures, their co-benefits and trade-offs, and implementation challenges.

Funding the implementation of the law is a key aspect and a point of tension in the negotiations. This policy brief addresses three questions: 1.) How much will implementing the NRL cost and how much funding is available? 2.) How can Member States mobilise funding for nature restoration? 3.) How do the economic benefits brought by nature restoration compare to its costs?

This policy brief highlights the importance of well-functioning ecosystems for ensuring human health and well-being, not least in light of climate change. Furthermore, it outlines the potential of nature restoration and specifically the law to generate healthier living environments and to mitigate diverse physical, mental and social health threats.

This policy brief targeted two main issues: 1) how the new nature restoration law would be beneficial to other existing EU policy objectives, and 2) which specific benefits would derive from the submission of the required National Restoration Plans (NRPs). As such, the law will – through the implementation of restoration measures – accelerate the pace of implementation of other EU laws and policies for air, climate, water, and marine.

This policy brief highlights the importance of a high degree of river connectivity for healthy and biodiverse water bodies that can provide key ecosystem services such as water supply for different human uses and resilience to climate change impacts. The policy brief presents evidence and data on the decline of river connectivity due to human interventions, in particular river barriers and floodplain degradation, and the benefits offered by measures to restore free-flowing rivers.

Healthy urban ecosystems and biodiversity are key to ensuring the resilience of European cities. This policy brief presents evidence and data to support strong targets for urban ecosystem restoration to be included in the Nature Restoration Law.

How do we classify which investments are the right ones to power the transition to a climate and nature-friendly economy? This is a pretty big question, and one that is crucial to a successful implementation of the European Green Deal. The EU taxonomy – the subject of our latest episode – specifies the various criteria that investments will need to fulfil to be considered sustainable. In practice, the taxonomy is a long list of economic activities with benchmark performance standards.

This document summarizes the results of the project "The Future of the EU – Make Climate Action its Trademark".

The Ecologic Institute undertook a comprehensive country study for Germany focusing on the integration of species protection rules, specifically within agricultural sectors, under the Birds and Habitats Directives. Engaging with over 20 national and regional experts, the study probed the implications of Article 12 and 13 of the Habitats Directive (HD) and Article 5 of the Birds Directive (BD), focusing on how thoroughly the regulations are transposed into national law, to reveal what efforts are being made to provide information about them to farmers and enforce them and to evaluate assessment and authorisation procedures.

In an exhaustive effort led by the Ecologic Institute, a detailed analysis was conducted to explore the availability and awareness of occurrence data for Annex IV species and wild birds across all 27 EU Member States. The outcome? A set of detailed country profiles alongside key aggregated findings that provide a comprehensive picture of the status quo.

To tackle the "plastic crisis", the concept of circular economy has attracted considerable attention over the past years, both by practitioners and scholars alike. Against this background, Linda Mederake, Ecologic Institute, reflects in this opinion paper from a political scientist's point of view on key issues currently under discussion regarding the implementation of a circular plastics economy.

What exactly is the European Green Deal? Which role does it play in our everyday life? And what challenges does it pose? In our podcast and webinar series "Green deal – Big Deal?" we take a critical look at these questions and discuss various aspects of the European Green Deal with experts from policy, business and science. Ecologic Institute produced a reel to contribute to the visibility of the podcast.