Ecologic Institute and its partner EMVIS Consultant Engineers have supported The Nature conservancy (TNC) in the preparation of this report, by outlining the key water challenges in Europe and the types of Nature Based Solutions that are applicable for addressing these challenges in Europe. The report is available for download.

In this EFEX webinar Doug Sims, Director of Strategy and Finance at the Center for Market Innovation (Natural Resources Defense Council), and Quentin Genard, Head of the Brussels Office at E3G (Third Generation Environmentalism), discussed the existing and evolving concepts behind a "green deal" in the US and EU, identified differences and similarities and debated pros and cons. The discussion then shifted to policy details, more specifically the proposed funding mechanisms for a new deal in both the US and EU (or lack thereof). The webinar was moderated by Matthias Duwe, Head, Climate, at Ecologic Institute.

In this EFEX webinar, Michael Mehling, Deputy Director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research at MIT, and Matthias Duwe, Head Climate at Ecologic Institute, discussed the state of play of climate framework laws, drawing on specific examples from the EU and the sub-national level in the US and experiences in other parts of the world. The webinar was moderated by Arne Riedel, a Fellow and legal expert at Ecologic Institute.

There are numerous regulatory approaches at the international, regional and national level regarding the handling of plastic products and plastic waste. What they all have in common is their limited effectiveness. Linda Mederake, Stephan Gürtler and Doris Knoblauch argue that this is partly due to the fact that at the international level a large number of binding agreements and voluntary initiatives have developed independently of one another and are therefore not coordinated in terms of content. The Plastics Atlas 2019 is available online.

Guske, A.-L.; Jacob, K.; Hirschnitz-Garbers, M.; Peuckert, J.; Schridde, S.; Stinner, S.; Wolff, F.; Zahrnt, D.; Ziesemer, F. (2019). Stories that Change Our World? Narratives of the Sustainable Economy. Sustainability, 11, 6163.

On 4 November 2019, Dr. Stephan Sina, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, held a lecture on "Climate Change Law – Overview of the Legal Frameworks at the International, European and National Level" at the Berlin School of Economics and Law. The lecture was part of a lecture series during the International Students’ Week. The aim of the lecture was for students to gain an understanding of the legal frameworks at the different levels and their interaction.

Whether and how to pursue “geo-engineering” as part of climate policy is a controversial and complex issue. The generic term describes a range of concepts that spans decreasing radiative forcing to removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Dr. Camilla Bausch moderated a two-day international workshop on the governance of geo-engineering in Brussels during which Dr. Ralph Bodle outlined the structure and criteria for addressing governance.

Olmeda C., Šefferová V., Underwood E., Millan L., Gil T. and Naumann S. (compilers) 2019: EU Action plan to maintain and restore to favourable conservation status the habitat type 6210 Semi-natural dry grasslands and scrubland facies on calcareous substrates (Festuco-Brometalia) (*important orchid sites). European Commission Technical Report.

This FAQ note presents the links between the Birds and Habitats Directives and the Nitrates Directive. The FAQ note specifies the legislations’ objectives, highlight the interactions between both areas of legislation, and points to the opportunities for greater coordination between the directives. This note by Ecologic Institute is available for download.

On 24 October 2019, research partners and stakeholders from the COACCH (CO-designing the Assessment of Climate CHange costs) project met in Brussels for the second interactive co-design workshop. In this second stakeholder workshop, the COACCH researchers presented first findings on climate change costs in different sectors, and explored ideas for the next phase of work focused on the assessment of policies and tipping points.

In this short video, Joe Rini, Research Associate at the IASS Potsdam coordinator of the analysis of the eight case studies, explains how the principle is applied in different contexts and thematic areas.

As part of the 'Sustainability 2030 Science Platform', Ecologic Institute has published a study on oceans as a global commons. An overview of the different governance mechanisms in regard to the Global Commons "Oceans" area are discussed. The study is available for download and will be presented at the beginning of December at the Annual Conference 2019 of the Science Platform.

By 1 January 2020, all EU Member States need to submit long-term climate strategies. How will these be implemented afterwards? What are possible positive narratives about the future that they can describe? These were key themes of the fourth meeting of the Policymaker Platform - a dialogue workshop for government officials and experts organized by Ecologic Institute under its Climate Recon 2050 project.

This article by Ecologic Institute's Linda Mederake and Doris Knoblauch uses a structuring qualitative content analysis to investigate the parliamentary debates of two recently adopted plastic policies in the EU – namely the EU Plastics Strategy and the Single-Use Plastics Directive – and assess the relevance of public health and environmental arguments for the EU debate.

On 15 October 2019 the experts' workshop within the context of the project "Improving Financial Security in the Context of the Environmental Liability Directive (ELD)" will take place in Brussels. The workshop will first offer an overview of the current situation of financial security for ELD liabilities in the Member States. The project team will then present options for financial security, which will be discussed in a World Café session in the afternoon, thus offering a chance for debate and exchange of ideas.