How did science-based environmental policy research in Germany emerge, and what roles did independent research institutes, policymakers, academia and civil society play in its development? Produced as part of the project “From ‘Blue Skies over the Ruhr’ to the Energy Transition”, this video series brings together 19 eyewitnesses and pioneers who helped shape environmental policy research in Germany.

The "Teacher Training Renewable Energy" project aimed to improve the capacities of future teachers in regards to their knowledge about renewable energies and also to identify methodologies that may help teachers share this knowledge in schools. During three years of project work, Ecologic Institute, Solare Zukunft, and the Independent Institute for Environmental Issues (UfU) developed a rich and comprehensive pool of (German) training materials. All teaching materials are also available beyond the project's duration and can be downloaded for free.

Ecologic Institute created an informative flyer in five languages that presented the EU-funded DEMEAU project. The project aimed to address challenges in water supply and wastewater treatment by promoting advanced technologies such as Managed Aquifer Recharge, Hybrid Ceramic Membrane Filtration, Hybrid Advanced Oxidation Processes, and Bioassays. With a strong consortium of research institutions, SMEs, and water suppliers from five EU countries, DEMEAU focused on innovation and partnership to effectively combat emerging pollutants.

On 19 December 2012, the first monitoring report from the Federal Government and the joint statement from the expert commissions about the "Energy of the Future" monitoring process were presented. The independent expert commission, composed of Prof. Dr. Andreas Löschel, Prof. Dr. Georg Erdmann, Prof. Dr. Frithjof Staiß, and Dr. Hans-Joachim Ziesing, provided scientific support and delivered a joint statement on the monitoring process, which should show progress towards the German "Energiewende", and with it a highly efficient energy system based on renewable sources by the year 2050,. Ecologic Institute provided scientific support to this work with a focus on the key topics that Dr. Hans-Joachim Ziesing and the expert commission selected for their joint statement. The joint statement is available for download.

The better integration of renewable energy, the creation of more flexibility for variable renewable energy, and the optimization of network expansion are shared challenges that China and Europe face on the way to a low-carbon economy. These topics were the discussion of a Dinner Dialogue hosted by Ecologic Institute with an expert delegation from China.

The project "From 'The Blue Sky above the Ruhr' to the Energiewende" aimed at shedding light on the factors that have driven the development of scientific environmental policy advice in Germany. The project team applied the "oral history method", holding a total of 20 interviews with contemporary witnesses. Ecologic Institute produced the project website, which provides an overview of the goals, methods and partners of the project. The project's findings as well as videos of the interviews are available for viewing in the media library.

Although Mongolia's GDP has grown consistently in recent years due to the booming mining sector, poverty is still widespread. This article aims to determine the extent to which agriculture contributes to food security in Mongolia and highlights the problems and challenges this sector is facing. In this article, published in the Geographische Rundschau, the authors Zoritza Kiresiewa (Ecologic Institute), Ankhtuya Altangadas, and Jörg Janzen answer these questions.

Co-hosted by Ecologic Institute. Please, consult the event's website for further information.

Mainstream economic indicators still dominate practical policy making. In this journal article, Lucas Porsch explains how the connection of sustainability measures and these mainstream indicators can be a tool for policy makers to understand and manage trade-offs between different sustainability categories.

<p>The first in a series of workshops on the topic of fish protection and downstream migration highlighted the congruent and contradictory goals of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the German Renewable Energy Act (EEG) as they relate to the topic of hydropower development and fish protection. A results paper (in German) presenting the detailed findings of the workshop is available for download.</p>&#13;