This side event presents analysis on both long-term climate policy scenario development as well as the respective governance frameworks and discuss it with practitioners involved. Furthermore, case studies from around the world are showcased.

13 case studies from different parts of the world are presented in this report as examples for policy-makers and stakeholders interested in developing long-term climate policy frameworks that are compatible with the Paris Agreement.

In the frame of this project a short study on the policy instrument of specific CO2-emission targets for car manufacturers in the EU is carried out which analyses and evaluates the policy instrument. The foci of the research are two questions: How did the instrument perform regarding the reductions of specific CO2-emissions of passenger cars? And how much can it contribute to reduce overall CO2-emissions of passenger transport in the EU, so as to contribute to reaching the target of the Paris agreement to stay below a warming of 2°C? The short study is available for download.

The COACCH project (CO-designing the Assessment of Climate CHange costs) is an EU funded Horizon 2020 project assessing the economic costs of climate change and climate actions. The project is coordinated by the Euro Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change (CMCC) in Italy and involves a consortium of 14 leading climate research institutes from countries across Europe.

The transition to a low-carbon economy requires a rapid decarbonisation of Europe's energy, industrial, transport and buildings sectors, as well as measures to adapt to a changing climate. This is not only a challenge in terms of the investment needs and the technological innovation, but also in terms of the needed labour inputs. This project takes stock of the employment effects of transitioning to a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy. The Ecologic Institute covers the parts of the research that are related to adaptation to climate change.

In February 2017, the European Commission published for the first time an Environmental Implementation Review (EIR). The EIR aims to improve implementation in the field of EU environmental policy, by trying to identify the causes of implementation gaps, and to find solutions to them. The first round of assessment reports for the 28 Member States revealed a lack of sound methodologies for assessing the various aspects of environmental governance.

Companies in countries with strong climate protection efforts often perceive these efforts as a competitive disadvantage. The risk, that companies lose market share due to asymmetric climate protection efforts or that new investments in ambitious countries decrease is referred to as "carbon leakage". In this project, Ecologic Institute, Öko-Institut and CE Delft examine the impact of new developments in climate policy on the established carbon leakage debate and what policy measures are needed to deal with these developments.

From 15 to 21 October 2017, Ecologic Institute implemented an information visit within the framework of the Visitors Programme of the Federal Republic of Germany on "Post Cop21" – Climate Policy for 2050. Representatives from ministries, Think Tanks, NGOs and journalists were invited to participate on a tour to Berlin, Bonn and the Lusatia region. The objective of the visit was to learn about and discuss the developments of international climate policy and German domestic climate politics in the light of the outcome of the Paris Agreement. The participants of the programme dealt with the results of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference and their significance for German policy making.

With this project, the Ecologic Institute supports the German Emissions Trading Authority (DEHSt) at the Federal Environment Agency and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety with the further development of the emission trading scheme of the European Union (EU ETS), for the period after 2020. The project focuses especially on the design of the carbon leakage guidelines within the fourth trading period (2020–2030) and beyond. It is the goal of the project to shed new light on the carbon leakage discussion, to assess the validity of current assumptions and to discuss potential design options.

With a big conference in Berlin on the 17 and 18 Oktober 2017, the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) launched its new comprehensive research programme "Plastic in the Environment – Sources • Sinks • Solutions." In this research programme, 18 research projects with around 100 partners from science, industry, associations and municipalities are exploring the following questions: What is the extent of plastic pollution globally, what are its causes and its effects? For the kickoff, representatives from all collaborative projects met in the "Umweltforum" in Berlin to present the individual projects, identify common challenges and develop cross-cutting themes for an exchange across consortia.

Soils are an enormous reservoir of carbon, containing nearly twice as much carbon as the atmosphere. Preventing soil carbon from entering the atmosphere is essential for climate mitigation efforts. Moreover, agricultural soils also carry a large potential for additional carbon sequestration, especially already degraded soils. Both preserving and enhancing soil organic carbon (SOC) has further benefits, contributing to improved soil quality, agricultural productivity, biodiversity and water protection and thus increased resilience against climate change. CIRCASA project aimed at strengthening the coordination and synergies in European and global research on SOC sequestration in agricultural soils, leading to an improved understanding and scientific basis to target ambitious practices required to preserve and enhance SOC.

As part of the FP7 MARS e-conference on the "Future of Water Management in Europe: Reviewing the WFD implementation", Josselin Rouillard presented an overview of key synergies and conflicts between EU policies in the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). After presenting the variety of relevant EU policies, Josselin presented key results from the H2020 project Aquacross on policy integration in EU water polices and the challenges of mainstreaming water policy in sectoral policies. He then presented in more detail the outcomes of a survey of Rural Development Programmes and their contribution to supporting the objectives of the WFD.

This book describes and analyses necessities for a more resource-efficient world. Authors across Europe, discuss solutions for a more sustainable use of natural resources and present good practice examples – such as repair services, digitalised construction projects and chemical leasing. The book addresses decision-makers and experts from the fields of policy development, industry, academia, civil society, and the media. Ecologic Institute's Mandy Hinzmann, Nick Evans, Terri Kafyeke, Stephen Bell and Martin Hirschnitz-Garbers took on the role of managing editors.

The EU is currently negotiating a comprehensive reorientation of energy and climate policy for the decade 2020-2030. Ecologic Institute drafted a strategy paper on how the next German federal government can shape the EU negotiations so as to create an EU electricity market regulation that is conducive to the German energy transition. Four central elements are identified: raising the ambition of energy targets and introducing long-term targets, developing effective oversight instruments to ensure compliance, adjusting the electricity market to the needs of wind and solar power, and initiating an exit strategy for coal firing. The paper is available for download.

Next to steep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere is essential to keep average global temperature increases to 1.5°C, and well below 2°C. At this point in time, there is effectively only one realistic and sustainable way to help remove large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere: restoring degraded forests. A strong and reliable governance framework is a pre-condition to restore degraded forests at the necessary scale. A new Ecologic paper discusses how to design such a governance framework for the EU. The paper is available for download.