Environmental policy-makers and stakeholders from the non-governmental, academic and private sectors from 19 countries gathered in Berlin from 27 July to 7 August 2009 in the first ICAP Summer School for Emerging and Developing Countries. The intensive two-week training event, designed and organised by the Ecologic Institute on behalf of and in collaboration with the International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP), provided insights into the complexities of emissions trading systems to enable participants' countries to harmonise their environmental policies for full participation in a future global carbon market. A second summer school will be held in the Netherlands in 2010.

<p>&#13; On behalf of the WWF, Ecologic Institute researched how middle and long term climate change goals could best be anchored in German law. At a Parliamentary Evening of the WWF on June 17th, Stephan Sina, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, presented the expert report. Its results were discussed afterwards in a debate including the members of Parliament Eva Bulling-Schröter (Die Linke), Michael Kauch (FDP), Ulrich Kelber (SPD), Sylvia Kotting-Uhl (Bündnis 90/Grüne) and Prof. Dr. Stefan Rahmstorf (PIK). The Moderator was Regine Günther (WWF).</p>

<p>&#13; Are the levels of cost recovery, investment and financing sufficient to ensure affordable access to freshwater and sanitation services?</p>&#13;

<p>&#13; At the EnergyAgency.NRW expert conference on future energies, expert speakers addressed the subject of efficient energy generation, especially regarding biomass, energy storage, geothermal energy, wind energy research and power plant technology. Aaron Best, Ecologic Senior Fellow, spoke in the opening plenary session, highlighting the nascent energy and climate policies of the new Obama administration.</p>&#13;

Rural areas face a number of new challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss and the increasing demand for biomass. This series of conferences and workshops with different themes and a wide range of actors investigated new strategies for innovation in rural areas, compliant with environmentally friendly economic activities:

<p>&#13; In an explorative study commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Ecologic Institute is currently analysing the long-term impacts of climate change on Germany’s financial budget. On 26 November 2008, Ingo Bräuer presented first results to the Ministry’s Working Group on Public Finance and discussed methodological questions with the experts in the audience.</p>&#13;

Illegal logging not only destroys primeval forests and biodiversity, but has also a negative impact on the German economy. On 14 October 2008, Greenpeace published a study carried out by Ecologic, which shows that losses of turnover for the wood industry add up to an estimated one billion Euro annually (total revenue 2007: 10.3 billion Euro), caused by declining image and credibility at the consumer. Illegal timber also beats down prices for timber products and leads to shortages in specific types of wood. Mostly, the timber comes from Brazil, Indonesia, China, Congo, and Russia and was often harvested through overexploitation and the destruction of primeval forests.