In November 2015, the joint statement of the Expert Commission on the "Energy of the Future" Monitoring Process was published. Ecologic Institute provides scientific support to the work of the Expert Commission with a focus on the key topics that Dr. Hans-Joachim Ziesing and the Expert Commission selected for their joint statement. The English summary of the report is available for download.

Ahrensfelde was a "city of the future" as part of the project "City of the future - living together sustainably" and creates a vision about what the community should look like in 2030 and beyond. In order to develop the vision, a survey was conducted among the citizens of Ahrensfelde in November 2015. Doris Knoblauch presented the results of the survey at a town hall meeting on the 30 November 2015 and she also moderated the evening.

Hinzmann, M. und Hirschnitz-Garbers, M. (2015): Argumentation für nachfrageseitige Innovationspolitik aus der Perspektive der Ressourcenpolitik. Kurzanalyse 23 im Projekt Ressourcenpolitik: Analyse der ressourcenpolitischen Debatte und Entwicklung von Politikoptionen (PolRess).

"Sort of best friends?" was the title of a conference which took place on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the IÖW and VÖW on 2 November 2015. The Ecological Research Network (Ecornet) – of which Ecologic Institute is a member – along with the civil society players Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND), Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU), Brot für die Welt and Zivilgesellschaftliche Plattform Forschungswende hosted the event.

An innovative 'Toolbox', aimed to help farmers achieve a good balance between crop productivity, soil health and soil carbon storage, has been developed as a result of a major EU research project called SmartSOIL. The SmartSOIL toolbox is an interactive platform which will show advisers and farmers potential changes in yield and soil organic carbon content which can result from implementing these practices. The toolbox is available online.

The fourth expert workshop of the discussion series "Improving climate protection – for Paris and beyond" dealt with the topic "Closing the post-Paris ambition gap: enhancing ambition before 2020 and the role of climate action pioneers." The event took place on 27 October 2015 in Berlin.

Kemper, Melanie 2015: Kurzkonzept für die Erweiterung des Informationsangebotes der Website des Forums "Fischschutz und Fischabstieg" – www.forum-fischschutz.de, Berlin, October 2015. Unpublished.

"Opportunities for and barriers to German-French contributions to the Climate Conference in Paris" was the topic of a panel discussion on 16 October 2015. The German-French association Gerhard Kiersch Verein / AGKV organized the event. The discussion addressed the question of how Germany and France could contribute to the success of the global climate conference and which obstacles still need to be overcome.

Prof. Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer (MCC) and Hildegard Müller (BDEW) extended an invitation for 15 October 2015 to discuss the topic "The Climate Conference in Paris – and then?" Franziska Erdle (WirtschaftsVereinigung Metalle), Dr. Camilla Bausch (Ecologic Institute) and Christoph Bals (Germanwatch) provided commentary to the introductory talks of Edenhofer and Müller.

To mark the occasion of Ecologic Institute's 20th anniversary, this infographic provides a look behind the scenes and introduces some of the people who make up the heart and soul of the Institute. The infographic was developed, designed and implemented by Ecologic Institute's staff members.

Ecologic Institute celebrated 20 years of successful environmental research and policy consulting with a podium discussion, improvisational theatre, and a festive reception in Berlin. To further mark the occasion of our anniversary, we presented an infographic providing a peek behind the scenes and introducing the people working at Ecologic Institute. More information and photos of the celebration, the infographic and the 20 messages of greeting sent from Germany, Europe and beyond can be found in the further links.

Investor protection and arbitration courts may be the most controversial topics during the present TTIP negotiations. In light of this public debate, the European Commission presented its first proposal for the reform of TTIP investor protection in May 2015. The proposal includes broad reforms concerning the allocation of arbitration courts as well as the challenge of arbitral awards. Further proposals have been made by the European Parliament in July 2015. In spring 2015, social democratic ministers from different EU countries brought a permanent international court house for investment disputes up for discussion. A reform of the international investment protection regime has already been in discussion for some time. The EU Commission plans to present a concrete proposal for the ISDS reform in the coming weeks.

In the project "Scientific coordination of research projects on a sustainable economy" (Wissenschaftliche Koordination der Fördermaßnahme Nachhaltiges Wirtschaften, NaWiKo) Ecologic Institute and its partners coordinate 30 research projects, which deal with a more sustainable economy and are supported by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research. The Ecologic Institute designed and developed the project's website. It contains an interactive map, which gives an overview of all funded projects. Furthermore the webpage provides detailed information on the projects and related events as well as publications for download. User can also directly subscribe for the newsletter.

Learning everything from books? Not at the University of Applied Sciences in Bremen which emphasizes the incorporation of practical knowledge into students’ academic routine. It provides students with added value as it illustrates future career opportunities. Therefore, Doris Knoblauch and Evelyn Lukat, senior fellow and researcher at Ecologic Institute, organized the seminar "Think Tank Policy Consulting" in 2015/2016. It was the sixth time that the seminar was held by employees of Ecologic Institute.

At the 10th German Climate Conference, Dr. Grit Martinez (Ecologic Institute) gave an overview of how the consequences of climate change have been addressed by human society during the past decades. Meanwhile, there is a prevailing consensus that both deep-rooted climate change mitigation efforts and adaptation measures are necessary to prevent a climatic change with unmanageable consequences. The presentation is available for download.