This handbook by Ecologic Institute is intended to provide the reader with the necessary information how to guide the participatory development of a River Basin Adaptation Plan. The handbook begins with more general contextual information about the BeWater project before highlighting the importance of adaptation, the state of the art in river basin planning, society's role in the process and finally the need for resilient social-ecological systems. The handbook is available for download.

Pederson, R., A. Frelih-Larsen, Z. Lukacova A., Crook, N., S. Naumann, C. Bowyer, C. Keenleyside, S. Nanni (2016). 'Soil Stakeholders Conference, 5 December 2016 – Conference Report.' Annex 2 to the report Updated Inventory and Assessment of Soil Protection Policy Instruments in EU Member States. Final Report to DG Environment. Berlin: Ecologic Institute.

Striking a balance between centralization and decentralization of competences is a challenge that dates to the start of European integration. There are some drivers that work towards greater centralization of EU climate policies – the need for enhanced climate action, electricity market integration and a realization of the Energy Union. At the same time, centralization in and of itself is not a guarantee for more ambitious or effective climate policies. In a new publication appearing in the journal Climate Policy authors Camilla Bausch and Benjamin Görlach of Ecologic Institute and Michael Mehling of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) trace the evolution and role of the centralization/decentralization debate in the context of EU climate policy. The article looks at emissions trading and the promotion of renewable energy as cases of centralization vs. decentralization, but cautions that this trend is neither smooth nor guaranteed to persist. In the dynamic and reflexive governance system of the EU, there is no one-size-fits-all, optimal balance between centralized and decentralized policy from a climate perspective.

In December 2016, the joint statement of the Expert Commission on the "Energy of the Future" Monitoring Process was published. Ecologic Institute provides scientific support to the work of the Expert Commission with a focus on the key topics that Dr. Hans-Joachim Ziesing and the Expert Commission selected for their joint statement. The joint statement is available for download.

Member States earned close to EUR 12 billion from auctioning in the EU Emissions Trading from 2013 to 2015 with over 80% of the money so far spent on climate action – most of it in the EU. The funding mainly went to renewables, efficiency and cross-cutting programmes. The national reports on the use of auctioning revenues, however, contain mistakes while there seems to be no frequent quality review at present. The summary report is available for download.

Ecologic Institute developed an easy-to-use web tool that displays ETS auctioning revenue data for the EU Member States since the beginning of the third trading period in 2013. The intuitive and navigable web interface allows the user to visualize and compare revenues by country and year using one or more graphical representations. The tool incorporates multiple indicators including type of use, share used in/outside the EU, actions in/outside the EU and channels used to support developing countries.

Since the adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015 countries worldwide have started processes towards the implementation of the goals and targets. Some of the targets are often already part of national strategies and instruments. Others are new and still need to be further specified to national circumstances – target 15.3 and the concept of "Land Degradation Neutrality" is one of these.

On 5 December 2016, World Soil Day, an EU Soil stakeholders' Conference took place in Brussels. The conference aimed at raising awareness about the importance of soils and the ecosystem services that they deliver, and to contribute to the implementation of the EU Soil Thematic Strategy. The proceedings are available for download.

Despite limitations in the legal detail, the Paris Agreement's political narrative goes way beyond its legal text. The approach is an experiment that relies on the national determination of efforts combined with the persuasive impact of the transparency framework and the regular taking stock of progress. The future details to these elements could be crucial for safeguarding ambition.

Scussolini, Paolo; Onno Kuik; Jeroen Aerts et. al. (2016). The Economic Appraisal of Adaptation Investments under Uncertainties: Policy Recommendations, Lessons Learnt and Guidance. ECONADAPT Deliverable 6.4.

The overall goal of the DESSIN ESS software system is to support users implementing the DESSIN ESS evaluation framework and sustainability assessment. This document describes how the software should do this, from the end-user perspective. The document is organized into so-called "user stories". Each user story describes a task that a user would like the software to perform, and explains why performing the task provides value to the user. The users stories are organized into "epics", which are groups of similar stories. Most of the user stories are written from the perspective of an evaluation lead carrying out an ESS assessment, as this was thought to be the most likely user of the system. The software framework presented here was developed by DHI, ECOLOGIC, SINTEF, and IWW in collaboration with the DESSIN user group, which consists of the demo site representatives who will be the end users of the software.

The deliverable 10.4 had the aim to summarize and introduce the ECONADAPT Toolbox to potential users in a clear, brief format. It was a useful document for the wider dissemination of the toolbox.

The ECONADAPT data repository was developed to include cost and benefit estimates for adaptation measures and with this support the evaluation of climate adaptation activities on different scales. It contains cost and benefits which were compiled and estimated in the ECONADAPT Case study Work Packages 5-9. Furthermore, it includes information from reviews in the methods oriented WPs. It was developed in a web-based format.

The election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States raises questions in many policy areas about the future course of the United States. What impact will the new government have on international climate policy, especially in the event that a Trump government withdraws from the Paris Agreement or even leaves the Framework Convention on Climate Change? The discussion will begin with keynote speeches by Miranda Schreurs (energy and climate policy expert and American-born, TU Munich) and Vera Rodenhoff (head of the relevant department at the BMUB).