6 June 2006 marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of the German Federal Ministry of Environment. Martin Jaenicke, R. Andreas Kraemer, and Helmut Weidner co-authored a "Critical Congratulation from the Science Community" (in German only) looking at achievements, challenges, and future perspectives of environmental policy in Germany and beyond.

EU Member States have until the end of June 2006 to submit their National Allocation Plans (NAPs) to the European Commission. These plans are a decisive element of the preparation for the second phase (2008-2012) of EU Emissions Trading Scheme and thus a cornerstone of European climate policy. Currently, the Member States are hurriedly preparing their respective Plans. Again, as with the preparation of the first NAPs, some fundamental questions are raised, for example regarding allocation methods for emissions certificates, the emission caps, and the installations covered by the Scheme. But in contrast to 2004, when the NAPs for the first trading period (2005-2007) were drafted, this time the Member States can draw upon some experiences.

This policy handbook for the EU-Water Framework Directive (WFD) has been published as a 2nd, fully updated edition in 2006. It comprises 9 chapters from 37 authors – five of them members of the Ecologic Team. The handbook covers all steps of the WFD implementation, with topics ranging from the analysis of pressures and impacts to the selection of measures, and from the integration of nature conservation requirements to the designation of heavily modified water bodies. It aims to provide hands-on guidance on all aspects of the WFD’s implementation in Germany for policymakers, academic scholars and civil society actors.

Based on an initiative of the Grüne Liga e.V. a seminar with the title: On the way towards the "Good status"- Critical aspects of the WFD was held on 24 March 2006. Rainer Müssner from Ecologic gave a presentation about the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU and the Water Framework Directive. The main focus of Müssner's presentation was the linkages between these policy areas and options to create synergies.

An important goal of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) is to achieve good chemical status of surface waters by 2015. According to Article 1(c) "specific measures for the progressive reduction of discharges, emissions and losses of priority substances" must be implemented. For the priority hazardous substances, discharges, emissions and losses must be stopped or phased-out. The German Federal Environment Agency published this report, which Ecologic contributed to.

In Stuttgart on 29 November 2005, Baden-Württemberg‘s Ministry for the Environment held an Information Day on the IPPC Directive’s implementation in Germany and specifically in Baden-Württemberg. It has been concluded that the environmental protection standard in Germany presents a solid basis for compliance with the guidelines of the Directive, and that co-operation between public authorities and businesses is an essential prerequisite for practical implementation. Ulrich Maurer and Alexander Neubauer compiled the event’s findings.

For the Russian government, the export of oil and gas is not just a good business deal. The gas conflict with Ukraine, with which the Russian leadership announced the new year and its G-8 presidency, showed that the Kremlin’s energy policy is at the core of its foreign policy – one that makes clear old power claims in the post-Soviet realm and beyond. Sascha Müller-Kraenner writes on east-west energy alliances in Kommune 1/2006. The article is available for download.

On the occasion of a conference on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive in North-Rhine Westphalia, Nicole Kranz presented experiences and strategies for public participation in water management in the context of the RhineNet project. Water management experts from different authorities and academia met on 17 and 18 January 2006 in Gelsenkirchen to discuss their approach towards the further implementation process of the WFD and to thus continue the exchange of experience commenced at previous events. The conference thus provided an important contribution to more transparency and an active involvement of the informed public in implementing the WFD in North-Rhine Westphalia.

In their article for the Zeitschrift für kommunale Wirtschaft (Magazine for Local Economy), Nadine Herbke, Ecologic Institute, and Dr. Nicole Weiß, Verband kommunaler Unternehmen (Association of Local Businesses) (VKU), present the results of the "Entwicklung lokaler Wasserpartnerschaften" ("Development of Local Water Partnerships") workshop, which took place on 23 November 2005 in Bonn.

The United Nations (UN) are in a crisis, not least because of their lack of democratic legitimacy: too many of the member countries are non-democratic, and internal procedures in the UN are unnecessarily closed to public debate and scrutiny. A panel of eminent experts led by Fernando Enrique Cardoso made proposals for reform. In a contribution to a book on the rule of international law in a globalised world, R. Andreas Kraemer assesses the panel's proposals.

On 13 July 2005, the new German energy law entered into force. In their article, Dr. Camilla Bausch and Julia Rufin LL.M. explain the implementation of the European Directives in accelerating the liberalisation of the internal electricity and gas market. Following a description of the previous process of liberalisation at the European and National levels, the introduction of the new regulation of the energy market is discussed and the new rules concerning the de-monopolisation of the energy sector are explained. Furthermore, specific national rules outlining the European requirements are illustrated.

The newly introduced law on project-based mechanisms (ProMechG), which entered into force 30 September 2005, was the topic of the Climate Talk on 12 December 2005. At the event the new cooperation partner for the Climate Talk, the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), was introduced. At DIW's offices in Berlin-Dahlem, the participants vividly discussed the ProMechG and its implications for businesses.

On 8 December 2005 the German Associaton for Water, Wastewater and Waste (DWA) organised an expert meeting entitled "25 years of practical experience with Waste Water Charges". Presentations and discussions centered on whether to abolish, keep or modify the Waste Water Charge. Ecologic Policy Advisor Peter Kessler spoke on "Waste water charges and the Water Framework Directive – What does the Directive require?". He argued that an abolishment without substition of the Waste Water Charge would violate the principle of cost recovery (environmental costs) of Art. 9 of the Directive.

The Yearbook Ecology 2006 was published at the end of September 2005. Ecologic is one of the institutes supporting this yearbook. This year's focus is on the assessment of German environmental policy under the SPD and Greens, current conceptualisations of nature, genetically modified organisms, as well as environment and development issues.