The World Soil Day on December 5th 2015 marked the end of the International Year of Soils. Throughout this past year, various activities and efforts took place to raise awareness of the profound importance of soils for human life and to promote soil protection. Soils deliver essential ecosystem services such as food, fiber and biomass production, water and nutrient cycling and the storage of carbon. The protection of this resource also plays a key role in mitigating and adapting to climate change. As the International Year of Soils comes to an end, the need to stop and reverse soil degradation remains acute. In partnership with researchers across Europe, Ecologic Institute will continue to actively contribute to the development of solutions for soil protection.

On 12 December 2015, 194 countries and the EU adopted the new "Paris Agreement" under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Ecologic Institute’s Ralph Bodle and Lena Donat had supported the German Delegation for several years and were on the EU negotiating team up to and in Paris.

Where do Canada and Germany stand in the field of energy policy, especially in renewable energies and energy efficiency? Which initiatives and projects are leading the way? Which impact had the Paris Climate Conference (COP 21)? Who is driving development and how can Canada profit from Germany's experiences? These and other questions framed the Canadian-German visitors program that took place from 13 until 17 December 2015 in Berlin and Düsseldorf, focusing on the theme "Energy Policy in Germany." The program hosted 10 stakeholders with professional backgrounds in policy, science and NGO works.

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.

International environmental policy is receiving a great deal of attention in 2015. In September the United Nations General Assembly committed to the Sustainable Development Goals and in December a new global climate regime is expected to be adopted at the UN Climate Summit in Paris. Dr. Camilla Bausch, Director of Ecologic Institute, discussed critical aspects of this dynamic at various events.

A group of 12 decision makers from the Midwest in the USA came to Germany from 15 until 21 November 2015 in order to explore and discuss German energy policy and aspects of structural change in former industrial and coal regions. Participants were able to speak with representatives from ministries, (state) parliaments, think tanks and businesses in Berlin, Cologne and Düsseldorf.

How can industrialised nations, regions and cities mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in various economic sectors? At the international workshop “Decarbonisation – 100 % Renewable Energy and More”, decarbonisation approaches and strategies pursued in Europe on different political levels were showcased, discussed and reviewed with regard to their cross-border transferability. It showcased different examples from across the EU, highlighting specific national and city level strategies and discussed their respective commonalities and differences with an expert audience. The high-level workshop was organized by the German Federal Environment Agency with support of Ecologic Institute.

"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.

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.

On 18 November 2015, McKenna Davis, Fellow at Ecologic Institute, gave a presentation at the European Conference on Biodiversity and Climate Change on Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems. The biennial conference, organized by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and the European Network of Heads of Nature Conservation Agencies (ENCA), focused on "Nature-based solutions to climate change in urban areas and their rural surroundings: Linkages between science, policy and practice." The presentation slides are available for download.

"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.

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.

We invite you to take a look at the following photo-gallery, which includes testimonials from representatives active in policy, business, research and NGOs.

The European Commission and EU Member States are currently discussing proposals for a new system of governance. The new set of rules and procedures is expected to help the EU to achieve its climate and energy targets for 2030 and to form an Energy Union. One of the reform’s aims is to streamline existing planning and reporting requirements on energy and climate policy. However, much remains to be clarified about how this new governance framework and the new planning and reporting process will work in practice. The studies are available for download.