The National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) are a key tool of the Energy Union Governance towards achieving the EU’s 2030 climate and energy targets. All Member State had to submit their drafts by 31 December 2018. The Ecologic Institute, together with CLIMACT, developed a methodology to rate and rank the draft NECPs. Funded by the European Climate Foundation, this project sheds light on how well Member States are fulfilling the obligation of the Governance Regulation and thereby, how well Member States are supporting the achievement of the 2030 targets.

Retailers play an essential role in shaping product decisions via their own business choices—choices regarding which suppliers to work with, what items to stock, how to manage supply-chain operations, what information to provide to consumers, as well as how their own brand identity and market positioning will relate to sustainability. Retailers thus occupy a unique position in the product value chain, being intermediaries between producers and consumers, with considerable influence on which goods we enjoy as consumers, the means by which they come to us and the long chain of impacts related to our purchasing decisions.

A Climate Neutral Europe by 2050 – a possible vision for the future? On 28 November 2018, the European Commission published analysis to underpin a new long-term strategy (LTS) on climate policy for the EU, laying out a vision of how to decarbonize the European economy. Ecologic Institute evaluates the Commission's analysis in a project for the German Environment Agency (UBA) and monitors further development of the 2050 strategy's adoption process.

The 2016 REFIT Evaluation of the Environmental Liability Directive (ELD) showed that the national implementation is working to a much lower extent than could be expected and with a great variation between the Member States. Under the Multi-Annual Work Programme for the period 2017 to 2020, the European Commission promotes, among others, the availability of financial security across the EU. Supporting this objective, the project aims to enhance the evidence base in relation to the current situation in Member States.

Climate and resource policy are important fields of action at international and national level. In contrast to climate protection, there is no international policy regime for resource conservation and its societal relevance appears lower than for climate protection. However, scientific findings and political debates are increasingly pointing out that climate protection and resource conservation must be considered together, since interactions can offer both synergies and trade-offs. For example, saving primary raw material use by fostering recycling could help reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Renewable energy technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions require large quantities of metallic and mineral raw materials whose extraction and production are associated with environmental impacts (e.g., land consumption and environmental pollution due to the extraction of mineral resources as well as energy-intensive processing) and which are partly considered as critical raw materials. Hence, in the context of the nexus of resource conservation and greenhouse gas neutrality, positive and negative effects on resource consumption and energy consumption are equally conceivable.

The G7 and G20 conferences are two multilateral fora for mutual exchange between the world largest economies. For the European Union, the congresses are particularly important to push for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to enhance international environmental protection. In this project, Ecologic Institute supports the European Commission in strengthening the voice of the EU in the negotiations. The team provides expert advice for EU position development on resource efficiency, circular economy, marine waste, plastics and sustainable finance.

At the time of their adoptions, the Water Framework Directive and later on the Floods Directive introduced many new concepts in governance, economic analysis and technical challenges for a sustainable and integrated water resources management. A lot of effort has been put into the development of River Basin Management Plans by Member States and knowledge of water status has considerably improved. Nevertheless, important differences in implementation level across the EU continue to exist and some member states or basins authorities still face difficulties in particular technical areas, which could be discussed with experts from other Member States to find alternative approaches or suggestions for improvement.

Europe's energy sector transformation is now well on its way. Yet, to reach the EU's ambitious decarbonisation target for 2050, more fundamental changes will be required in the energy and transport system after 2020. To provide a solid basis for decision-makers, the Ecologic Institute supports Agora Energiewende in developing a report that delivers a snapshot of how the EU’s energy system could like in 2030. The new report "Big Picture of the European Clean Energy Transition in 2030" builds on the successful German predecessor "Energiewende 2030: The Big Picture". In a concise and accessible fashion, the report specifies key challenges in EU energy policy and shows the way forward towards higher ambition.

In 2018 the "Implications of the Paris Agreement for national climate protection ambition" project is rolled out in support of the Talanoa Dialogue and these 8 countries will be examined carefully: the EU, Germany, China, USA, Canada, Japan, India and Brasil. How are they implementing the Paris Agreement? Can these contributions secure a 1.5-2°C degree world? Who is a climate leader, and who isn't? This new project will shed light on the actual climate impact of said countries mitigation efforts and their level of ambition.

In January 2018 the European Commission adopted an Action Plan to improve compliance with EU environmental rules. Ecologic Institute and its partners support the European Commission in implementing the Action Plan. In particular, the project assists the European Commission in the development of good practice guidance documents on combating environmental crimes, on compliance assurance in rural areas and on handling environmental complaints of citizens as well as with the communication on the Action Plan.

Ecologic Institute analysed the existing European rules for climate action. Although comprehensive and detailed, they do not include many features of national and regional climate laws, such as legally binding reduction targets, emission budgets, or independent institutions. However, these features contribute significantly to the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The detailed project report is available for download.

In February 2017, the European Commission published for the first time an Environmental Implementation Review (EIR). The EIR aims to improve implementation in the field of EU environmental policy, by trying to identify the causes of implementation gaps, and to find solutions to them. The first round of assessment reports for the 28 Member States revealed a lack of sound methodologies for assessing the various aspects of environmental governance.

The EU is currently negotiating a comprehensive reorientation of energy and climate policy for the decade 2020-2030. Ecologic Institute drafted a strategy paper on how the next German federal government can shape the EU negotiations so as to create an EU electricity market regulation that is conducive to the German energy transition. Four central elements are identified: raising the ambition of energy targets and introducing long-term targets, developing effective oversight instruments to ensure compliance, adjusting the electricity market to the needs of wind and solar power, and initiating an exit strategy for coal firing. The paper is available for download.

The illegal pollution of soil, water, and air, the illegal trade in protected species or the illegal shipment of waste abroad – these are different forms of environmental crime. Environmental crime has many negative consequences. Its environmental impacts range from the destruction of forests to the pollution of water, soil, and air and even to species extinction. Moreover, many types of environmental crime also affect human health, and organised forms of environmental crime undermine state structures and sustainable development.

Ecologic Institute has developed a web-based monitoring tool within the framework of the National Climate Initiative's Strategic Development Project, which enables grant recipients to create interim and final reports.