At the dialogue event "The River, the Waste and Me" by the Berlin initiative "Alles im Fluss" in cooperation with "Stadtgespräch Wasser bewegt Berlin" on water pollution control and waste on the banks, Linda Mederake, scientific researcher at Ecologic Institute, presented the project Plastic Pirates. In this citizen science project for children and teenagers, school classes and youth groups throughout Germany can collect data on the amount of plastic waste on and in German rivers and thereby become scientists themselves.

In the current debate about a Federal Climate Change Act, people often overlook that in Germany about half of the federal states already have a climate change law as a comprehensive legal framework. In a study for WWF Germany, Ecologic Institute gives an overview over core elements of federal climate change laws and their impact on a potential Federal Climate Change Act. The study underlines the added value of such climate change laws. It concludes that climate change laws at the federal and state levels are not only compatible but strengthen each other. The study can be downloaded at the WWF website.

The research report by Ecologic Institute provides a legal assessment of whether German law is suitable to achieve the sustainable development goal "land degradation neutral word" (LDN) by 2030, and recommends options for improvement. The analysis focuses on rules for erosion, sealing by human settlement and pollution by industry. The report also compiles and explains key insights and lessons learned in English, as a contribution to the international discussion on implementing LDN. The report is available for download.

The annual NUTRITION conference brings together nutritionists, health experts in hospitals and nursing homes as well as pharmacists to exchange over current scientific and practical insights to support healthy diets. In her keynote speech at the NUTRITION 2019 with more than 500 participants, Stephanie Wunder, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, presented what impact a stronger collaboration between nutritionists and sustainability experts can have.

On the 13 May 2019, Ecologic Institute organised the workshop "Beyond sectors – chances and challenges of multi-stakeholder collaboration in the bioeconomy" in the context of the 8th International Bioeconomy Conference in Halle (Saale). The aim of the workshop was to discuss the challenges of cross-sectoral, multi-stakeholder cooperation in the bioeconomy as well as potential instruments for their facilitation and to present good practice examples. The workshop was held in German.

At the launch of the new event series ZUKUNFTSFORUM ECORNET on 9 May 2019, scientists, politicians and representatives of civil society debated the need for a legal framework for climate protection in Germany and its possible components under the guiding question "What kind of climate protection law is needed?" Matthias Duwe, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, emphasised the advantages of a legal framework in his presentation on the experiences of other EU countries.

This study, co-authored by Raffaele Piria, provides an overview of the New England region, the current focus of energy and climate policy debates, key energy policy institutions, and the common electricity market. The study was produced to accompany the New England-Germany Energy Transition Forum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2019.

Due to the success of the citizen science campaign "Plastic Pirates" in the years 2016, 2017 and 2018, the youth campaign has been extended again as part of the research focus "Plastics in the Environment", which is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research. This year, the campaign takes place from 1 May until 30 June 2019 and allows young people between 10 and 16 years old to become scientists and contribute to a large citizen science project. We invite all young people to join!

The production of food results in by-products. Instead of disposing them as waste, they can also be valorised into new products. This quiz lets you find out what new products can be made from this food waste. The player scrolls two image galleries and chooses two pictures that correspond as food waste and new product. There are eight possible pairs to be found. How many pairs can you find?

The EU Member States have committed to be climate neutral by the second half of this century. Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf calls this a fundamental challenge that no EU member state can address alone and that makes the EU indispensable for effective climate protection. This is one of 32 reasons why Europe is a "damn good idea". The eponymous book was published in the run-up to the 2019 European elections. It presents numerous achievements of the European Union in an understandable way, explains complex interrelationships and shows the positive effects of the EU for its citizens.

The conference proceedings for the status conference of the research focus "Plastics in the Environment – Sources • Sinks • Solutions", presenting the joint research projects and cross-cutting topics, are available for download.

On 9 April 2019, Doris Knoblauch, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, moderated a panel discussion on the political and social dimensions of plastics in the environment. Participants presented the first social science results of their collaborative projects and discussed possible courses of action

Is it possible to modernize apartment buildings to net zero within just a few days? The innovators at ecoworks claim just this and were awarded with the jury’s prize at this year’s DENEFF annual conference. Dr. Camilla Bausch of Ecologic Institute headed the jury for the third consecutive year to choose the winner of the competition. The innovation by ecoworks was only one of many exciting projects in the running for the 2019 PERPETUUM Energy Efficiency Prize.

On 9 and 10 April 2019, the status conference of the research focus "Plastics in the Environment – Sources • Sinks • Solutions" of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) took place in the Kalkscheune in Berlin. The coordinators of the 20 joint projects funded within the research focus presented their projects and explained first results as well as challenges of their projects. The conference proceedings, presenting the joint projects and cross-cutting topics, are available for download.

The use of the term "driving ban" can give the impression of a general and comprehensive ban on driving. In this sense, it means, rather, a ban on mobility. The term thus does not only suggest a banishment, but also an interference in the personal freedom of all drivers, not only of diesel drivers. "Traffic restrictions" is the more precise term with respect to the content. Dr. Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf, Head of International and European Governance, and Katharina Umpfenbach, Coordinator Energy of the Ecologic Institute, discuss this in the Süddeutsche Zeitung. The article is available online.