Debates and discussions are still taking place on the aims of the European Commission as regards the strengthening of competition in the water sector. The question is: What would the consequences be for the German water and wastewater sector, if water provision was to be increasingly subjected to competition, public procurement and internal market rules?

During an international capacity-building workshop for participants from Central and Eastern Europe which was convened from 29 September to 1 October 2005, Nicole Kranz discussed the application of a valuation of ecosystem services for the implementation of the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD).

The event will be directed towards stakeholders in new and old Member States and will focus on the implementation of Directive 96/61/EC on integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC). It will provide a forum for an exchange of experiences and views on the implementation of the Directive, the use of the reference documents on best available techniques (BREFs) and the future development of the Directive.

“Engaging the Climate Behemoths: Transforming Energy Policy in America and China” was the topic of the Transatlantic Climate Dinner in honour of William K. Reilly, co-chair of the US National Commission on Energy Policy (NCEP). The challenges for China’s coal driven energy sector as well as for the US, considering not only energy and climate protection needs but also the wish for economic growth, were discussed in the light of the new proposals of the NCEP. This Transatlantic Climate Dinner Dialogue took place on 6 September 2005 in Berlin.

In recent years, the Open Method of Co-ordination (OMC) has emerged as an increasingly important instrument of EU governance. Rather than relying on legally binding rules, the OMC works through the diffusion and evaluation of information. On 2 September 2005 Ingmar von Homeyer, Senior Fellow at Ecologic, gave a presentation on the application of the OMC in EU environmental policy at a workshop organised by the German Federal Office for Building and Spatial Planning (BBR) in Bonn.

The new National Climate Protection Program, as agreed upon by the federal government on 13 July, was the subject of the "Climate Talk" on 13 August 2005. Experts from business, science and politics discussed the economic and political meaning of the program, particularly against the backdrop of emissions trading, Germany's (formerly) leading role in climate protection and Germany's 2012-emissions-reduction-goals. Presentations were given by Astrid Harnisch (Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Protection, BMU), Regine Günther (WWF) and Sven Reinhardt (CDU/CSU-faction).

The worldwide emergence of public policy research organizations has occurred only recently. Compared to the US, the concept of "think tanks" is relatively new in Germany, and there are only a very limited number of institutions active in policy research and policy consulting. On 12 August 2005 Markus Knigge, Fellow at Ecologic, gave a presentation at the Bucerius Summer School on how Ecologic – one of the few German think tanks – contributes to environmental policy making on the German, European and international level.

Local and regional institutions are essential for effectively tackling local environmental problems and for implementing policies that address global environmental challenges. In recent years, a number of transatlantic partnerships between regional and local institutions have evolved in order to change information and best practices in the environmental policy area. The Heinrich Boell Foundation organised an informal dinner on 12 July 2005 during which Ecologic Fellow Markus Knigge gave a speech on the role, the functioning and the effectiveness of transatlantic environmental partnerships, and discussed his findings with the participants present.

The international workshop "Implementing the Economic Aspects of the WFD – Future Challenges in the Elbe River Basin" took place in Leipzig on 7 and 8 July 2005 and was mainly organised by Ecologic Associate Britta Pielen. In the course of the workshop, Benjamin Görlach gave an overview of the Member States' current approaches to assessing disproportionate costs in implementing the European Water Framework Directive.

In environmental matters, modern society is living at the cost to future generations. This was the main issue discussed at the Young Leaders Congress 2005 "Ecological Generational Justice into the Constitution", which brought together more than 50 participants from all over Europe and beyond. At the event, Ecologic Fellow Markus Knigge chaired a panel discussion with Karsten Sach, Head of the Division for International Affairs in the German Ministry for the Environment, and Manfred Bergman, Head of the Unit for Evaluation of Transport, Environment and Energy in the European Commission, on where we are in achieving ecological generational justice in Europe.

The German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE), together with GTZ, convened a German National Conference on Sustainability in the Context of BRICS+G. R. Andreas Kraemer moderated the event on 9 June 2005. The national conference was held in preparation of an international conference including Brazil, Russia, India, and China in Berlin on 4 and 5 September 2005.

The United Kingdom put Africa and the Millennium Development Goals high on its agenda for its presidency of the G8 in 2005. In a discussion with Camilla Toulmin - Director of the Institute for International Environment and Development - the impacts of this initiative, its potential and possible implementation challenges were spelled out and debated. The Dinner Dialogue took place in Berlin on 6 June 2005.

As part of the Annual Foreign Policy Conference 2005 of the Heinrich Boell Foundation on European Neighbourhood Policy, R. Andreas Kraemer moderated the session on "Free Tade and Environmental Partnership" on 3 June 2005.

During a workshop conducted by Ecologic Institute and the German Federal Environmental Agency on the matter of user charges on global environmental goods, Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf gave two speeches on the legal parameters of the introduction of a levy on airplane tickets as well as on emissions. Participants of the workshop were representatives of the German Government, of the EU-Commission as well as representatives of academia, industry and NGOs.

The Impact of Climate Change on the Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic was the theme of a an Expert Roundtable with Representatives of Circumpolar Indigenous Peoples moderated by R. Andreas Kraemer in the context of opening the new Canadian Embassy in Berlin. It was convened jointly by the Embassy of Canada in Berlin, in partnership with the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ecologic, and the Indigenous Peoples’ Secretariat of the Arctic Council on 18 May 2005.