The main objective of the platform is to provide organisational support for the German Roundtable on Marine Litter and its working groups. In addition, the public part of the platform serves public relations work and the bundling of information on marine litter. The Ecologic Institute developed this central German portal on marine litter technically, structurally and graphically to support the fulfilment of the tasks of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive with regard to marine litter and other international obligations (e.g. Action Plan on Marine Litter, OSPAR, HELCOM).

Addressing energy consumption and related GHG emissions from buildings constitute a major challenge in the light of the climate crisis. At the same time, the interplay of building policies with other policy areas comes into focus with sector coupling, digitalization but also lifecycle considerations and adaptation to climate change. For the European Commission Directorate-General for Energy, the Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE), Climact, Creara Consultores and Ecologic Institute investigate which lessons can be learned from already existent integrated policy approaches for new buildings and buildings undergoing a major renovation.

The European commission strives for carbon-neutrality in Europe by 2050. In order to achieve this goal, the energy intensive industries will have to reduce their emissions substantially. On behalf of the European Parliament, CE Delft and Ecologic Institute will summarise how energy intensive industries in Europe can transition to a carbon-neutral energy economy while preserving their global competitiveness.

This FAQ note presents the links between the Birds and Habitats Directives and the Nitrates Directive. The FAQ note specifies the legislations’ objectives, highlight the interactions between both areas of legislation, and points to the opportunities for greater coordination between the directives. This note by Ecologic Institute is available for download.

Effective CO2 pricing is crucial to achieve the global climate protection goals. This was the subject of an event that was carried out by the Ecologic Institute as a co-organizer as part of a formal side event at the 25th session of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25) in Madrid.

In 2014, the European Union committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. The Commission also proposes to aim for full greenhouse gas neutrality by 2050. On behalf of the BMU, Öko-Institute and Ecologic Institute are investigating how these goals can be achieved and what options are available to raise ambition of midterm goals and measures.

On 9 April 2019, Doris Knoblauch, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, moderated a panel discussion on the political and social dimensions of plastics in the environment. Participants presented the first social science results of their collaborative projects and discussed possible courses of action

On 2 December 2019, Doris Knoblauch and Dr. Stephan Sina, Senior Fellows at Ecologic Institute, held a presentation on "Tackling Plastic Pollution – Introduction to Global Plastic Pollution and the Discussions at the International Level" for 21 experts from ministries, authorities, local government, and non-governmental institutions of low-income countries, including newly industrialized economies.

In December 2019, a new European Commission took office in Brussels, and president Ursula von der Leyen has pledged to put climate policy at the center for the next five years. But how ambitious are the Commission's plans? What is the business sector's take on the new climate drive? How do international climate experts assess the plans? And how will EU decisions shape national energy, mobility and climate debates and actions in the member states? This research tour for journalists from 2 to 4 December 2019 to Brussels, jointly organised with Clean Energy Wire (CLEW) and the European Climate Foundation (ECF) offered an introduction to relevant institutions, actors and topics that equipped participants with background and contacts to cover EU climate, energy and transport policy.

Ecologic Institute starts dialogue with conservative climate and energy policy makers. The dialogue aims to build bridges for effective climate action through all segments of society. The project is carried by Ecologic Institute in cooperation with Szazadveg Foundation, a Hungarian Think Tank. The dialogue consists of a number of meetings, publications and a concluding conference in Brussels.

By 1 January 2020, all EU Member States need to submit long-term climate strategies. How will these be implemented afterwards? What are possible positive narratives about the future that they can describe? These were key themes of the fourth meeting of the Policymaker Platform - a dialogue workshop for government officials and experts organized by Ecologic Institute under its Climate Recon 2050 project.

On 20 November 2019, Doris Knoblauch of Ecologic Institute was invited as an expert to a hearing on "Climate Protection in the Pankow District" at the Pankow District Assembly in Berlin. The expert's presentation dealt with possible climate protection measures in terms of content (e.g. how the change in mobility or nutrition can succeed), but focused on organisational aspects, such as how climate protection can be anchored as a cross-sectional task in the district administration and within the population.

With the adoption of the Paris Agreement, the world of climate policy has changed, with important implications for the debate on carbon leakage. This report looks at how the risk of carbon leakage changes for different constellations of climate policy targets, how the incentives for countries have changed, and what carbon leakage entails for global emissions under these constellations.

In this project, Ecologic Institute created a 40-page overview of climate protection laws in Europe and their potential contribution to the discussion of a German climate protection law. The overview addresses the interested public through clear language with as few technical terms as possible. The overview is available for download.

Naumann, Stephan, Ulf Stein and Hannes Schritt 2019: Forum Fischschutz und Fischabstieg – Ergebnisse und Diskussion. In: WasserWirtschaft 2019, 10, 36-39.