EU | Ecologic Institute: Science and Policy for a Sustainable World

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Project

A Climate Law for Europe

November 2017 to December 2017

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.Read more

Project

Governance

Development of an Assessment Framework on Environmental Governance in EU Member States

November 2017 to March 2019

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.Read more

Presentation

Speech

Climate

Governance

Environmental Policy for, with and through People

TimeLoc

24 October 2017

Stuttgart

Germany

Dr. Camilla Bausch

Looking back with a view to the future: Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Environmental Ministry in Baden-Wurttemberg, Minister President Kretschmann and Minister for Environment Untersteller together with keynote speakers Prof. Schneidewind (Wuppertal Institute) and Dr. Bausch (Ecologic Institute) highlighted achievements of the past as well as challenges for the future. While past efforts delivered some important results, current and future trends show the need for far-reaching changes in the way we live and do business.Read more

Presentation

Synergies and Conflicts between EU Policies in the Implementation of the Water Framework Directive

TimeLoc

17 October 2017

eConference

Dr. Josselin Rouillard

As part of the FP7 MARS e-conference on the "Future of Water Management in Europe: Reviewing the WFD implementation", Josselin Rouillard presented an overview of key synergies and conflicts between EU policies in the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). After presenting the variety of relevant EU policies, Josselin presented key results from the H2020 project Aquacross on policy integration in EU water polices and the challenges of mainstreaming water policy in sectoral policies. He then presented in more detail the outcomes of a survey of Rural Development Programmes and their contribution to supporting the objectives of the WFD.Read more

Project

Climate

Global Environment

Policy Assessment

Implications of the Paris Agreement for National Climate Protection Ambition

October 2017 to December 2019

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.Read more

Publication

Document

Climate

Forest

EU Climate Policies: friend, foe or bystander to forest restoration and carbon sinks?

EU Climate Governance for restoring degraded forests

Next to steep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere is essential to keep average global temperature increases to 1.5°C, and well below 2°C. At this point in time, there is effectively only one realistic and sustainable way to help remove large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere: restoring degraded forests. A strong and reliable governance framework is a pre-condition to restore degraded forests at the necessary scale. A new Ecologic paper discusses how to design such a governance framework for the EU. The paper is available for download.Read more

Publication

Nach der Bundestagswahl: Worauf es für die deutsche Politik beim Energiepaket der EU ankommt

The EU is currently negotiating a comprehensive reorientation of energy and climate policy for the decade 2020-2030. In this strategy brief, Katharina Umpfenbach discusses 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 strategy brief is available for download.Read more

Publication

Introduction to the RISC-KIT Web Based Management Guide for DRR in European Coastal Zones

This paper presents a new approach to guiding coastal stakeholders about making informed decisions about Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) measures and alternatives. As part of the RISC-KIT project and tool box, the paper presents a holistic DRR measure approach including the biophysical environment, governance aspects and practical examples from coastal areas in Europe and elsewhere. The guide is addressed to a wide variety of coastal stakeholders with a different level of knowledge about DRR measures with the aim to provide guidance and information. The paper gives an overview of the overall...Read more

News

Water and Innovation: Ecologic Institute at the SWITCH-ON Final Conference and EIP Water Conference

In the final week of September, Ecologic Institute and its partners in the FP7 Research Project SWITCH-ON were in Porto (Portugal) to celebrate the final General Assembly of the project and showcase its results at the EIP Water Conference of the European Commission.

Publication

Policy Brief

Consumer Policy

Resource Conservation + Circular Economy

Stepping up Waste Prevention

Challenges and Opportunities for National Waste Prevention Programmes

Ecologic Institute co-authored the RECREATE policy brief no. 7 on challenges and opportunities for national waste prevention programs. The authors state that the political framework needs to be more enabling and with further support for research and development targeted at measuring waste prevention and behavior change to unlock the potential of waste prevention. The RECREATE policy brief is available for download.Read more