The results of a scenario exercise carried out under the OPEN:EU project suggest that the transformation of Europe into a One Planet Economy by 2050 would require very aggressive policy action. The study is available for download.

Climate change and ongoing transformations in the economy and agriculture will have numerous, strong impacts on the Baltic Region. The book "Global Change and Baltic Coastal Zones" provides comprehensive information on these changes, their consequences and the practical challenges they pose. Grit Martinez and Daniel Blobel from Ecologic Institute, along with co-authors Livia Bizikova (International Institute for Sustainable Development) and Rob Swart (Alterra Wageningen University and Research Centre), contributed a comparative analysis of climate change adaptation projects and strategies in different coastal regions of the world. The publication is supported by the RADOST project (Regional Adaptation Strategies for the German Baltic Sea Coast), which Ecologic Institute coordinates.

Longer and warmer summers on the German Baltic Sea coast: this is a possible implication of climate change that could certainly also serve as an opportunity for the tourism sector. At the same time however, negative impacts such as increased algae growth are also expected. Communities and stakeholders in the coastal region will have to adapt to these impacts in the near future. In the first RADOST annual report, the RADOST project partners present both impacts and possible adaptation strategies in the fields of coastal protection, tourism, water management and agriculture, ports and marine economy, renewable energy and conservation and land use.

Do the National Renewable Energy Action Plans concerning Member States' goals for 2020 address the long-term restructuring of electricity generation? Do they consider possibilities for European cooperation? Dr. Stephan Sina and Katharina Umpfenbach of the Ecologic Institute examined these questions in their analysis of the German Renewable Energy Action Plan commissioned by the European Green Foundation.

Road transport is the most important driver for increasing greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union and is therefore critical to achieving the EU's 20 % greenhouse gas reduction target in 2020. The objective is to decouple economic growth and the demand for transport with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This video (8:36 Min.) visualizes European data on economic growth, transport and greenhouse gas emissions.

The EU has set ambitious targets to raise the share of renewable energies, particularly biofuels. This article, written by Stephanie Schlegel and Timo Kaphengst, discusses the role that bioenergy plays in the European policy context and the approach the EU is currently following to ensure the sustainability of biofuels. It addresses the limits of the chosen approach, concluding that certification schemes can not serve as the only safeguard for sustainable bioenergy, but need to be complemented by other tools and policies.

The Open Method of Coordination has so far mostly been applied in areas in which the EU has weak legislative competencies. Recently, however, several OMC-type mechanisms have emerged in the environmental field, where the EU has a significant legislative role. In this article, Ingmar von Homeyer discusses two environmental OMCs: the environmental dimension of the Lisbon Strategy and the Common Implementation Strategy of the Water Framework Directive.

The article is based on a brochure the author wrote for the project "EcoFuturum – A Sustainable Constitution for Europe" which was co-funded by the European Commission. In the framework of this project, Ecologic published a number of policy papers and carried out a series of workshops throughout the enlarged European Union to discuss the impact of the future Constitution on European environmental policy.

This article examines the potential impact of eastern enlargement on EU environmental governance. Whereas some observers see eastern enlargement as a potential threat to EU environmental governance, this contribution argues that it should be seen as an opportunity to intensify ongoing reform efforts. Ingmar von Homeyer from Ecologic Institute was the author of this article.

This Ecologic Brief is part of the project EcoFuturum "Europe's Democratic Challenge: Actively Shaping European Environmental Policy". It is part of a series of contributions to the European constitutional debates, and Ecologic thus continues its tradition of work on "Greening the Treaties".

Ever since tourism became a huge money making industry, it has presenting both a growing problem and a unique opportunity for the environment. The modern tourist is concerned with preserving nature, but at the same time also affects it in multiple ways. How does German tourism policy and the tourism industry react to this dilemma? How do the different environmental policy actors behave?

Oosterhuis, Frans (Ed.) 2006: Ex-post Estimates of Costs to Business of EU Environmental Legislation. Final report for the European Commission. Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Homeyer, Ingmar von 2003: Institutional Opportunity Structures for Effective Contestation of Policy-Making, EUROPUB research project, Deliverable 2, Synthesis Report. Ecologic, Berlin.

Tanja Dräger 2003: Der Konvent zur Zukunft Europas. Die "Ergrünung" des Landwirtschaftskapitels in der Europäischen Verfassung. Berlin.

Beyer, Peter; Clare Coffey; Anneke Klasing 2003: Actively Shaping European Environmental Policy – Briefing Paper on the Draft Constitution for Europe. Ecologic Institute, IEEP, Berlin/Brussels.