In this chapter, Ecologic Senior Fellow Ingmar von Homeyer argues that the institutional structures and processes underlying EU environmental governance have undergone a significant transformation in recent years. Important characteristics of this emerging "experimentalism" in EU environmental governance include the transition of many important decisions into the implementation stage, trans-nationally networked implementation, and the creation of indicators and reporting requirements for regular review and revision of policies.

This article, which is co-authored by Senior Fellow Ingmar von Homeyer of the Ecologic Institute, introduces a special issue of the journal International Environmental Agreements on environmental policy integration (EPI) at the international level. Referring to the integration of environmental concerns into other, non-environmental policies, the concept of EPI has been applied at national and EU-level but has rarely been analysed in relation to the global arena.

In this article in Internationale Politik, Germany's leading foreign policy magazine, Martin Kremer of the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) and Sascha Müller-Kraenner, Senior Policy Advisor of Ecologic Institute, discuss the new tools for EU climate foreign policy under the Lisbon Treaty and the possible role of the European External Action Service.

Illegal fishing and logging, and the international trade in illegally sourced fish and wood products, cause enormous environmental and economic damage. Consumer countries contribute to the problem by importing fish and timber without ensuring legality – a problem the EU tries to address with two new regulations. In this briefing paper, Duncan Brack, Heike Baumüller and Katharina Umpfenbach compare the recently adopted EU regulations on illegal fish and timber products. The authors contrast the very different approaches and highlight areas that might need further strengthening.

What is the state of sustainable development in the European Union? The 2009 Eurostat monitoring report reviews the progress and implementation of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy. The 2009 monitoring report was published on the Eurostat website.

Under the title "Setting the Course for the Future, not Nursing a Hangover – After the Copenhagen Debacle, Europe Needs an Effective Strategy for Climate Negotiations", Sascha Müller-Kraenner, Senior Policy Advisor at the Ecologic Institute, suggests options for the future external climate policy of the European Union. The article (in German) is available exclusively online from Internationale Politik, Germany's leading foreign policy magazine.

Twenty-one countries share the Mediterranean's coastline, with no single country responsible for its environmental deterioration or its protection. They are collectively responsible for both. Over four decades, the environmental dimension of Europe's policy toward its Mediterranean neighbours has become increasingly prominent. This article by Pamela Lesser, Fellow with Ecologic Institute, Washington DC, published in the Mediterranean Quarterly, Volume 20, Issue 2, deals with Europe's environmental policy toward its Mediterranean neighbours and the newly launched Union for the Mediterranean.

Indicators are a major source of information for efficient economic and political decisions and provide basic quantitative support for the elaboration and implementation of policies. On behalf of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management (BMLFUW), Ecologic analyses the environmental situation of Austria in the context of the EU-27 Member States published in a brochure in November 2008.

In this book chapter, Ecologic Senior Fellow Ingmar von Homeyer provides an analytical overview of EU environmental governance from the early 1970s up to the present. He argues that EU environmental governance can be described as an amalgam of four to five environmental governance regimes which have successively been layered on top of each other over the past 35 years.

Access to information on the environment is an indispensible precondition for effective environmental policies. If this access is denied, neither the public sector nor the private sector is capable of making environmentally sound decisions. Willing to complement the EU's efforts to grant such access, the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) promotes environmental policy cooperation between the EU and its Eastern and Southern neighbours. To support the effort, the European Commission has issued a guide to EC horizontal environmental legislation for its European neighbours and Russia.

This brochure provides a general survey and overview of the range of topics addressed by the Ecologic Institute. It includes examples of relevant events and projects, and key financial information. The brochure captures the essence of the Ecologic Institute at a crucial time in our development. The past years have brought consistent growth, increasing diversification, strong management, and the establishment of a number of offices and subsidiaries.

Valuing both the environment and the changes in the level of environmental quality is of central importance to environmental policy formulation, as it puts the costs of obtaining certain environmental goals into perspective. In this article, which was published in the December 2008 issue of "Ökologisches Wirtschaften", Holger Gerdes and Anneke von Raggamby propose a methodology to assess the policy impacts of environmental valuations.

In this chapter of "Smit & Herzog on The Law of the European Union", founded by Hans Smit and Peter Herzog, Michael Mehling and Gitte Warnick of Ecologic Institute describe and analyze Article 176 of the Treaty establishing the European Community. First, the authors provide a review of the evolution of the article. The second part is an exhaustive analysis of significant judgments and decisions.

In this chapter of "Smit and Herzog on The Law of the European Union", founded by Hans Smit and Peter Herzog, Michael Mehling and Gitte Warnick of Ecologic Institute describe and analyze Title XIX of the Treaty establishing the European Community. First, the authors provide an in-depth review of the evolution of the corresponding paragraphs and articles, as well as a review of European environmental policy in general. The second part analyzes significant related measures of secondary legislation.

Integrated assessment is rapidly spreading as a practice at different levels of governance. However, the choice of using certain tools in an assessment is often not well founded. In this paper, Wouter de Ridder, John Turnpenny, Måns Nilsson and Anneke von Raggamby present a framework that scientifically underpins the role of, and thus choice of, tools within an integrated assessment.