<p>&#13; With Arabia in turmoil and nuclear tragedy at Fukushima, Japan, the US rethinks energy dependence on unstable or hostile parts of the world, and looks anew at sustainable energy options.  R. Andreas Kraemer of Ecologic Institute presented German and EU experience at the University of Pennsylvania's International Relations Program on 15 March 2011.</p>&#13;

Climate change brings significant changes to the Arctic, resulting in a new geopolitical dynamics and challenges in the relations between Arctic and non-Arctic nations. On 23 November 2010, the German Konrad Adenauer Foundation convened an expert meeting in Berlin to discuss the strategic, military and political challenges, the role of the EU, and implications for resource, energy and climate policy. R. Andreas Kraemer of Ecologic Institute was invited as keynote speaker on EU Arctic Policy in the context of regional environmental governance.

<p> A gradual shift of today&rsquo;s taxes away from personal income and capital- and towards taxes on consumption, pollution, and inefficient use of energy and resources can boost employment, eco-innovation and protect the environment. In this context, biodiversity protection also plays an important role. Building on previous work related to the use of market-based instruments in the field of nature conservation at the EU and global levels, Sandra Naumann gave a presentation on &ldquo;Preserving Biodiversity with Market Incentives&rdquo; at the &ldquo;Environmental Tax Reform - learning from the past, and inventing the future&rdquo; conference in Dublin, Ireland. The focus on her presentation was the success or failure of these instruments and their potential for further use in the future.</p>

At the invitation of the U.S. Consulate General Leipzig Katharina Umpfenbach held a lecture on U.S. climate and energy policy on 27 May 2010. The event was part of a lecture series titled &ldquo;Obama and the &lsquo;new&rsquo; U.S.&rdquo; organised jointly by the political science faculty of the University of Erfurt, the Regional Center for Political Education and the U.S. Consulate General.</p>

<p>&#13; The Political Science Department of the United States Naval Academy offers a course to 3rd and 4th year Political Science majors on Energy and Security. Dominic Marcellino, Fellow at Ecologic Institute, was invited to provide a guest lecture on the use of market mechanisms in climate change policy.</p>&#13;

<p> Over the years the number of think tanks in Brussels has increased significantly. Against this general backdrop, the lecture by Ecologic Senior Fellow Ingmar von Homeyer at the College of Europe in Bruges focussed on environmental think tanks dealing with EU environmental policy. He argued that the role and characteristics of the environmental think tanks differ significantly from those of the Brussels &ldquo;generalist&rdquo; think tanks, which focus on a much broader spectrum of EU policies than their environmental counterparts.</p>

Christiane Gerstetter and Doris Knoblauch, Fellows of Ecologic Legal, are teaching a seminar at the University for Applied Sciences Bremen in the summer term 2010. The seminar is entitled &quot;Policy consulting by intermediary organisations&quot; and is part of the International Degree Course in Policy Management; its aim is to provide students with first-hand insights into the work of an environmental think tank.

<p>&#13; Christiane Gerstetter, Fellow Ecologic Legal, provided an introduction to various international agreements to a Palestinian audience during a workshop in Ramallah on 29-30 March 2010. The workshop was convened by the Environmental Quality Authority of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Its aim was to raise awareness among Palestinians about international environmental agreements.</p>

<p> On 24 November 2009, the Ecologic Institute was invited to address students in a lecture series titled &ldquo;Generation Green: Germany and the Environment&rdquo;&nbsp; organized by the Center for German Studies at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. The course explored how and why Germany&#39;s Green movement addressed&nbsp; pressing environmental challenges a generation before the release of Al&nbsp; Gore&#39;s &quot;An Inconvenient Truth&quot;, allowing students to consider how specific cultural contexts shape personal attitudes, public policies and&nbsp; technological advances. Michael Mehling shared insights on &ldquo;Germany&#39;s Ecological Tax Reform: Perspectives from a Think Tank&rdquo;.</p>

<p>&#13; In the context of the Coordination Action INNOVA-MED, an international conference took place on innovative processes and practices for wastewater treatment and re-use in the Mediterranean region. Eleftheria Kampa, Senior Fellow with the Ecologic Institute, gave a lecture on the constraints to the broader application of treatment and reuse technologies in Mediterranean Partner Countries of North Africa and Middle East.</p>&#13;

<p> Christiane Gerstetter of Ecologic Legal, gave a presentation to young diplomats, participating in the 4th Executive Seminar for Diplomats from Latin America and the Caribbean on the international legal framework for climate protection and the current climate negotiations.</p>