In this study, Ecologic Institute researched – together with ICLEI and the Austrian Environmental Agency – how cities and regions that have signed the Covenant of Mayors went through the process of creating and implementing their Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs). The case studies provide an overview of the multi-level governance activities of Hanover, the Region of Barcelona and the Region of Emilia Romagna. For the case studies pertaining to sustainable financing, the city of Bath, the Region of Sardegna and the city of Namyslow were picked. The study is available for download.

Within the framework of the 11th International Conference on Permafrost (ICOP 2016) organized by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research and taking place in Potsdam from 20 to 24 June 2016, the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), in cooperation with the Embassy of Canada and the Ecologic Institute, will hold an event on the topic of "Permafrost Research at the Science-Policy Interface". Registration for ICOP 2016 is open until 31 May 2016.

Lucha, Christine; Andreas Prahl; Bettina Kampman et. al. 2016: Local and Regional State of Play and Policy Recommendations Concerning Sustainable Heating and Cooling: Focusing on EU Level Policy. European Committee of the Regions: Brussels.

In the last few years, transformation research has gained increasing attention as means of studying socio-ecological crises and radical change towards sustainability. Especially the transformative research mode, through which research actively engages in societal change processes, is intensely debated. This workshop, organized by DRIFT with support from Ecologic Institute, aimed at self-reflection on empirical and theoretical foci, frameworks and suitable research methods in transformation research. The workshop report is available for download.

Concluding four years of interdisciplinary collaboration and research the BASE project brought together representatives working on climate adaptation policy at EU and Member State level, as well as local practitioners for an interactive day on climate change adaptation in Brussels. The main focus of the workshop was a series of policy observations that emerged from research in the BASE project. As a result another policy recommendation was developed which is available for download.

The EU research project "Bottom-Up Climate Adaptation Strategies for a Sustainable Europe" (BASE) recently announced the "Interactive Policy Workshop: Implementing the EU Adaptation Strategy - Practical insights and policy recommendations" to be held in Brussels (Belgium) on 9 June 2016. The aim of this workshop is to bring together stakeholders to share experiences of adaptation to climate change in policy and practice from across Europe. Stakeholder inputs will shape a series of recommendations that will be fed into the review of the EU Adaptation Strategy in 2017. Participation in this interactive workshop is free of charge. Please register now!

This book draws on the European Commission funded project MILESECURE-2050. It considers low-carbon energy security and energy geopolitics in Europe with a focus on four thematic clusters: challenging the energy security paradigm; climate change and energy security objectives (the components of a secure and low-carbon energy system); energy security in a geopolitical perspective, as it relates to economics, resource competition, and availability; and the influence of large scale renewable energy projects on energy security and shifting geopolitical alliances. Max Gruenig served as one of the book's editors and further researchers, Andreas Prahl, Katherine Weingartner and Brendan O'Donnell, were chapter authors.

The DESSIN Ecosystem Services Evaluation Framework is a methodology used to systematically assess the impacts of innovative solutions to water-related challenges from the environmental, economic and social perspectives. The framework consists of the DESSIN Cookbook, a Companion Document, a Supplementary Material File and a Case Reporting Template. The framework is aimed at decision-makers, practitioners and technology developers who want to evaluate the potential impacts of new technologies and water management measures on freshwater ecosystems and their services. The documents are available for download.

The 40th Cairo Climate Talks, titled "Putting Paris into Effect: Climate Change Action in Africa" brought together decision-makers as well as representatives from business, academia and civil society. Ecologic Institute's Lena Donat provided the European perspective on the outcome of the Paris climate summit and the future negotiation process.

As part of the visual identity for project "Resource Efficient Food and dRink for the Entire Supply cHain" (REFRESH), Ecologic Institute designed a project flyer in small postcard format. The flyer summarizes general objectives and aims of the project, and is styled according to the project style-guides and contains project and contact information and an QR-code directing to the project website. The flyers is distributed during project events.

On 23 May 2016, the ELEEP Network hosted a Side Event at the May UNFCCC meeting in Bonn. The event featured guest speakers Aki Kachi (ELEEP Fellow 2015/2016) and Michael Mehling (MIT). Matthias Duwe (Head of Climate, Ecologic Institute) moderated the event. During the event, the speakers discussed existing options for the development of carbon markets post-Paris and provided a perspective on what they could mean for carbon markets in the US and the EU. A video recording of the event can be viewed on the ELEEP Network YouTube Channel.

The workshop "Rostock 2050 - Measures for a post-carbon city, was the fourth and final workshop held in Rostock as part of the project Post-Carbon Cities in Europe: A Long-Term Outlook (POCACITO). In this workshop, the results of the modelling excercise undertaken by the POCACITO team were presented to and discussed with the stakeholders of the participation process in Rostock. The modellers had quantified the decided-upon measures and the ambitious measures of the post-carbon vision elaborated in the previous workshops. The results were presented in a "business-as-usual 2050" and a "post-carbon 2050" scenario. Learing from these results the participants dicussed the gaps remaining on the trajectory to a post-carbon future and which areas should be prioritized to be successful. Furthermore, a focus was on the question, how the EU or the national level could help the city of Rostock to reach its post-carbon goals.

As part of its long-standing cooperation with Duke University, the Ecologic Institute implemented a course on Germany's energy transition (Energiewende), offered to Duke students as part of the Duke in Berlin Summer Program.

Ecovillages are change agents as models of sustainable lifestyles implementing structural change and intending a political statement. They are intentional communities with larger settlement structures designed and owned by their inhabitants, oriented to live within ecological boundaries and fulfill their socio-cultural needs of community, autonomy, participation and personal development. This thesis explores a framework that allows assessing their impact on changes to the interlinked elements of the established regime, centering change agents as complex socio-ecological systems and diagnosing barriers and opportunities to overcome the (re)production of unsustainble practices. To approach the complexity of transformation and ecovillages, concepts on multiple levels of change (GEELS 2011), complex socio-ecological systems (OSTROM 2006, POTEETE et al. 2010) and practices-as-entities (SHOVE et al. 2012) are used. It is explored how to integrate the change agent’s valued stable practices that formed institutions (rules, norms, forms of organisation). The transformative impact of a change agent is conceptualised as a process of diffusion (SCHOT et al. 2008) of its innovative socio-ecological (ZAPF 1989, CAULIER-GRICE et al. 2012) practices and institutions. Finally, the case of Ökodorf Sieben Linden is analysed in a mixed-method approach to show the explanatory potential of the developed framework.

Vivienne Parry welcomed approximately 1700 attendees from over 100 countries to the fourth edition of Adaptation Futures 2016, one of the largest conferences ever held on climate change adaptation. The Bottom-Up Climate Adaptation Strategies (BASE) project was selected to be featured as a best practice project at the conference. BASE partners, among them Ecologic Institute, presented the project's research and tools in two sessions.