The EU recovery and resilience facility marks progress but has some shortcomings in climate policy, argues Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf in his OpEd for the Tagesspiegel. A bigger role for the European Parliament in the distribution of recovery funds is important – for climate protection and democracy in the EU. The facility's spending rules must be clarified.

On 2 July 2020, Dr. Martin Hirschnitz-Garbers and Dr. Stephan Sina from Ecologic Institute, together with Susanne Altvater from s.Pro, gave a keynote presentation "Reflections on extended producer responsibility under the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive" at the working group "Implementation of the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive" and discussed it with the participants

This article (written in German) examines various policies and approaches that are currently being implemented or planned as solutions to the plastics crisis. It becomes clear that in national and international policies plastics are mainly described as a problem of waste management and that solutions are oriented accordingly. As a consequence, there are numerous regulations for the recycling of plastic waste in Germany, while waste prevention is rarely addressed. The perception of the plastics crisis as a problem of waste management also leads to a transfer of responsibility to individuals, who, however, have only limited room for manoeuvre compared to industry and politics.

Ecornet is a German network of independent research institutes with a focus on the environment and sustainability. The goal of this unprecedented research project "Wissen. Wandel. Berlin" was to strengthen Berlin's pioneering role in the development of innovative approaches to ensuring a liveable, climate-neutral and sustainable city. The Ecornet Berlin website was developed, implemented and designed by Ecologic Institute. It served the public communication of the project's goals, events and results.

Plastic Pirates – Go Europe! is a joint citizen science campaign by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in collaboration with the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education and the Slovenian Ministry of Education, Science and Sport. The campaign is taking place in all three countries from 2020 to 2021 as part of the trio presidency of the EU Council. The goals of the campaign are to strengthen scientific collaboration in Europe, promote the level of dedication among citizen scientists and to raise awareness and consciousness for the environment. Ecologic Institute develops and programs the website in four languages. In addition to general information and instructions on the action, the website also offers an ordering system for the action materials of the participating countries.

In July 2020, the Federal Environment Agency published the trend report "Meat of the Future", which analyzes the environmental impacts of plant-based meat substitutes, edible insects and in-vitro meat. Ecologic Institute developed policy options on how the market development of meat alternatives can be better aligned with the goal of sustainability.

Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf comments on the EU corona aid package in Tagesspiegel Background. He calls for the EU Parliament to have a greater say in the matter and criticises that the aid programme is not sufficiently linked to the goal of climate neutrality by 2050.

The project examined the effects, processes and support options for implementing innovative infrastructure coupling. Current developments, the associated transformation processes including supporting and hindering factors as well as potential sustainability effects of coupled infrastructure solutions were examined. The focus is on innovative, i.e. not established, couplings (understood as niche innovations) in the transport, energy, water, wastewater, waste management and information and communication technologies (ICT) sectors. The present volume provides a summary of the results, which are available in three sub-reports.

The project examined the effects, processes and support options for implementing innovative infrastructure coupling. The present volume examines local innovation processes in four case studies. Especially when it comes to innovations, there are no standard solutions. The technical systems must be embedded in supportive organisational structures, be economically feasible and implementable, function in a social context and encounter a enabling political and legal framework. Local actors, especially public utilities, are able to take the new, often uncertain paths, if the right framework conditions are in place.

The project examined the effects, processes and support options for implementing innovative infrastructure coupling. The present volume examines development paths, success factors and barriers as well as the contribution of infrastructure couplings to sustainability transformation and design options. Implementation processes are often complex, breaking new ground and requiring the cooperation of actors in completely new constellations and responsibilities. Whether sustainability transformation is successful on the local level depends on numerous factors that can also be shaped on local level in a systematic way. Innovations promote new structures, networks, new behaviour and knowledge.

The project examined the effects, processes and support options for implementing innovative infrastructure coupling.The present volume analyses the effects of innovative couplings on performance, resilience, resource efficiency, and social and economic compatibility. A "sustainability check" with 26 criteria was developed and tested in an expert survey. Coupling infrastructures does not automatically lead to greater sustainability, but coupled infrastructure systems have the potential to contribute to resource conservation and security of supply. This requires a differentiated consideration of the effects on sustainability.

This research report contains the results of the UBA-project "Environmental guidelines of a German Arctic policy". It highlights several starting points for the German environmental department to foster environmental protection in the Arctic, even from a non-Arctic state’s point of view. The report also describes the activities undertaken within the project to raise awareness with the general public on existing links between Germany and the Arctic. Those activities include inter alia an explanatory video and a public event.

On 19 May 2020, Doris Knoblauch moderated a media training for the research focus "Plastics in the Environment". The journalist Ralf Nestler provided the content input. In addition to his work at the Tagesspiegel, he also worked as a scientist at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam. Nestler thus knows both sides of the relationship between science and journalism.

With more than 1500 participants in the live stream and via YouTube, the online webinar "Saving the climate with knife and fork? How our eating habits affect the environment" on 18 May 2020 was a complete success. Together, Tanja Dräger de Teran (WWF) and Stephanie Wunder (Ecologic Institute), highlighted the links between daily nutritional routines and their impact on climate, land use and health.

The current global pandemic presents both risks and opportunities for the transition to a more sustainable future in Europe. At the launch event for the newest report of the German Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU), Dr. Camilla Bausch discussed the importance of the European Green Deal at this moment of crisis with Prof. Dr. Christian Calliess.