Together with other institutes, Ecologic Institute has a framework contract with the European Parliament to support the work of its Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI). Under this framework contract, the European Parliament regularly requests studies and briefing papers on EU environmental policies and issues of sustainable development.

Wildlife crime is no longer an emerging issue, but has established itself as a serious threat to biodiversity and sustainable development. In the period between 2010 and 2012 alone, for example, 100,000 elephants were killed in Africa for ivory. The EU is both one of the most important markets for illegal wildlife products and an important actor in the fight against wildlife crime. As such, Ecologic Institute coordinated a study on wildlife crime which was commissioned by the European Parliament. Further project partners were the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), the University of South Wales (Jennifer Maher), Ragnild Sollund from the University of Oslo, Teresa Fajardo del Castillo from the University of Granada and Tanya Wyatt from Northumbria University.

Ecologic Institute continues to advise the German Federal Ministry for the Environment on the updating of EU climate and energy policy after 2020. In this project, Ecologic Institute developed options and formulation proposals for concrete legal texts and initiatives of European climate and energy policy - through a number of expert opinions, short studies, workshops and ad hoc support services.

The project supports the European Commission (EU) to coordinate and promote the implementation of European coastal and marine policies in the Member States. Issues with special focus are the analysis and development of integrated approaches and instruments for facilitating the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). In addition, the project assists the EU in organising sessions and workshops with competent expert groups and in improving the exchange of model examples via the database of OURCOAST.

Ecologic Institute, Bio IS and the Institute for European Environmental Policy were commissioned by the European Parliament's Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI Committee) to provide the members with the needed expertise to monitor the ongoing negotiations between the United States Administration and the European Commission for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement.

Water touches virtually all societal and environmental domains. The knowledge domain is largely multidisciplinary. New water information and knowledge can thus lead to more efficient use of environmental services and better handling of environmental problems, including those posed by climate and environmental change. The project SWITCH-ON explores and exploits the currently untapped potential of open environmental data to address water issues. Water information is of interest to many kinds of end-users, both within government and business as well as within civil society. SWITCH-ON will show the benefits achieved through the whole process chain. The project aims at re-purposing (re-using under different context) open data products into more water-dedicated and refined products. Those are considered to have high value and a broad impact on society.

MILESECURE 2050 explores and evaluates the multidimensional process leading to European low-carbon energy security. Taking a perspective to 2050, the project will increase knowledge about the drivers of and barriers to societal and individual transition processes as well as develop governance approaches for low-carbon energy security.

In the transition to a post-carbon economy and sustainable societies, cities will be faced with unique challenges. POCACITO focused on uncovering how to improve the resilience of cities and regions in order to reduce existing and emerging conflicts over resources and their use in light of societal mega‐trends, environmental deterioration and climate change.

The Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment of development of the Arctic seeks to strengthen communication and outreach within the EU and between the EU and Arctic communities regarding the EU’s contribution to addressing environmental and other issues raised by the rapid development of the Arctic region as a result of economic and climate change. The Preparatory Action project aims to bring together scientific knowledge and stakeholder perspectives, increase awareness about the changing Arctic, enhance understanding of the impacts of EU policies, and test the effectiveness and sustainability of the network and a European Union Arctic Information Centre (EUAIC).

The interdisciplinary research project "European Union Action to Fight Environmental Crime" (EFFACE) assesses the impacts of environmental crime as well as effective and feasible policy options for combatting it, with a focus on the EU. The project is funded under the 7th Research Framework Programme of the EU (FP7). Ecologic coordinates the work of 11 European universities and think tanks involved in the project.

<p>Effectively monitoring EU resource efficiency requires knowledge on the progress and achievements in the 27 EU member states. The project will compile country profiles for all 27 member states and undertake a EU summary analysis. Investigations will integrate literature review and indicator trend analysis.</p>

The aim of the EU's Natura 2000 Network is to protect Europe's most valuable and threatened species and habitats. This project developed a methodological framework for assessing the overall economic value of the benefits provided by the Natura 2000 network. A first estimate suggests that the benefits could be between €200 and €300 billion per year at present, which equals 2% to 3% of EU GDP. The project report is available for download.

The three-year research project "InContext" identified framework conditions enabling societal transition towards an ecologically sound, economically successful and culturally diverse future. Action at local and individual levels is vital to bring the concept of sustainable development to life. However, policies aimed at initiating such local and individual transitions towards sustainability can often not achieve the desired change. Thus, the EU research project InContext has set out to investigate the conditions for creating sustainability transitions at the local and individual levels.