At the German Nature Conservation Day (Deutscher Naturschutztag, DNT), Doris Knoblauch from Ecologic Institute presented the Urban Governance Atlas, developed as part of the EU-funded INTERLACE project. The collection highlights governance and policy instruments that can support cities in successfully implementing nature-based solutions.

In the science section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Arne Riedel, a lawyer at Ecologic Institute and expert on Arctic governance, commented on current debates about the protection of Arctic sea ice. The article explores new legal ideas for protecting the Arctic – including the discussion of whether nature, such as Arctic sea ice, could be granted its own rights.

What did the ecosystems of the North Sea and Baltic Sea look like over 100 years ago? To get to the bottom of this question, the Ecologic Institute project team visited the Museum of Natural History in Berlin in February 2026 as part of the project “The German North Sea and Baltic Sea over 100 Years Ago,” funded by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. Among historical specimens, handwritten inventory books, and scientific collections, new perspectives on the marine past opened up – and surprising insights for today's marine conservation.

In the new Horizon Europe project SEA4FUTURE Ecologic Institute leads the social science and humanities research on integrating fishers’ knowledge and expertise into new monitoring processes of gears and defining new marine protected areas in the Mediterranean Sea. Officially launched on 1 January 2026, SEA4FUTURE has the ambition to catalyse a blue transformation of the Mediterranean seafood sector.

A policy brief by Ecologic Institute, the Clingendael Institute and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs analyses Europe's growing dependence on US liquefied natural gas (LNG). Based on a novel assessment of gas imports across the entire European Economic Area (EEA, including Norway), the study shows that in 2025 US supplies accounted for almost 40% of total gas imports and nearly 60% of LNG imports into the EEA.

Climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental pollution rank among the most pressing global challenges of our time. The research project "Challenges for International Climate Protection in the Face of the Global Triple Crisis", commissioned by the German Environment Agency (UBA), now presents a series of reports, fact sheets and infographics that systematically analyse these challenges as a single, interconnected crisis.

An independent scientific statement, led by Dr. Lindsey Hendricks-Franco (Ecologic Institute) and co-signed by more than 200 researchers and medical professionals across Europe, has been addressed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The statement warns that proposed amendments to Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 on plant protection products included in the draft Omnibus Simplification Package could weaken fundamental safeguards in pesticide risk assessment, with implications for environmental protection, biodiversity and human health.

On 4 December 2024, the Ecologic Institute hosted an initial meeting with Dr. Tobias Raffel, Managing Director of Biodiversity Bridge e.V. Since December 2025, the Ecologic Institute has been an official partner of Biodiversity Bridge. Together with additional partner institutions, the collaboration aims to strengthen knowledge exchange and joint engagement for biodiversity.

ZirTeNet participated in the Aachen-Dresden-Denkendorf International Textile Conference (ADD-ITC) on 27 and 28 November 2025 at the Eurogress Aachen, offering an overview of current research activities within the collaborative projects dedicated to transforming the textile sector. At the information booth in the foyer, Doris Knoblauch and Yannick Heni presented recent developments in the ongoing projects and engaged in extensive discussions with experts from academia, industry, and policy.

On 26 November 2025, Dr. Stephan Sina, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, participated in a panel discussion with law students on the role of law in the climate crisis at Humboldt University in Berlin. He discussed climate change legislation, obstacles to the implementation of measures to achieve climate targets, the role of courts, challenges for companies that want to behave sustainably, and opportunities for law students to contribute to climate protection.

On 20 November 2025, Aaron Best and Mandy Hinzmann presented innovative digital solutions for sustainable consumption at the Federal Ministry for the Environment in Berlin. These solutions were developed as part of the project "DigiKon – Digital solutions for sustainable consumption in the circular economy", carried out by the Ecologic Institute together with IZT and GFA Consulting from June 2024 to November 2025.

On 17 and 18 November 2025, the closing event of the project "Natural Climate Adaptation!" commissioned by the Federal Environment Agency and the Federal Environment Ministry took place in Berlin. The event was organised in cooperation with the 14th KlimAdapt network meeting.

At the Fachsymposium Stadtgrün – Zukunft städtischer grüner Infrastrukturen (Symposium on urban greenery – The future of urban green infrastructure; 12–13 November 2025) Flora Dicke and Jenny Tröltzsch presented insights from the AMAREX project in the form of a scientific poster. The event brought together experts from municipalities, research institutions and planning practice to discuss innovative approaches for climate-resilient urban green spaces and water management, with a special focus on competition for urban space.

From 12 to 14 November 2025, Hannah Brunkhorst took part in the Participatory Science Conference (PartWiss) in Leipzig, where innovative projects and approaches were presented under the motto "Researching together – Impulses from citizen science, participatory, and transdisciplinary research". At the end of the first day of the PartWiss 2025 conference, participants gathered for a large poster session. A total of 30 posters were presented, providing interesting insights into various projects in the fields of citizen science, participatory and transdisciplinary research.

During the first day of the PartWiss 2025 conference, Doris Knoblauch delivered a presentation on the Europe-wide citizen science project, 'Plastic Pirates – Go Europe', during the thematic session, 'Participatory Approaches to Shaping the Science-Policy Interface'. During her presentation, she explored the intersection of natural and social science methods within the project. Using studies of the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts as an example, she showed how school classes in Kiel, St. Peter-Ording, Rostock and Flensburg had collected data on plastic pollution, before discussing the causes, responsibilities and possible solutions in focus groups.