The increased importance of renewable energy for the electricity sector in the context of the energy transition ("Energiewende") requires that the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) be made more consistent with the Energy Act (EnWG). On behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), a consortium of Ecologic Institute, Stiftung Umweltenergierecht, Öko-Institut and the law firm Becker Büttner Held is conducting a project aimed at increasing the comprehensibility and the transparency of the legal framework for the electricity sector in order to help facilitate investments.

Supply-side factors are key to explaining the dramatic fall of oil prices from over $100 per barrel since late 2013 that have eaten into the profits of oil companies. However, oil industry observers are increasingly drawing attention to the long-term disruptive potential of new technologies, design methods, and business models that could also herald strong competitive pressures by weakening consumer demand for oil. The results of the Paris Climate Summit with its call for rapid emission reduction, early peaking and green-house-gas neutrality can accelerate this trend and herald a paradigm shift. As the world begins to embrace a low-carbon future by 2050, as evidenced in the Paris Agreement and many private sector initiatives, what are the strategic implications – and opportunities – for oil companies and resource owners?

In October 2014 the European Council decided to enhance the availability and use of existing flexibility instruments under the EU Effort Sharing Decision. The auctioning of Annual Emission Allocations (AEAs) is one option to enhance flexibility. A new Ecologic Paper discusses advantages and challenges of AEA auctioning. The paper is available for download.

European Communities 2003: Guidance Document No 4. Identification and Designation of Heavily Modified and Artificial Water Bodies. Produced by Working Group 2.2 - HMWB. Luxembourg.

Since 2000 the Transport and Environment Reporting Mechanism (TERM) has monitored the progress of the integration of environmental objectives into transport policy in the EU. The TERM 2015 report investigates key developments in the transport sector with regards to environment, identifying what has improved and what has been a barrier to the sector's environmental performance. Ecologic Institute contributed to the TERM 2015 report with a chapter on transport and biodiversity. The full report is available for download.

Where do Canada and Germany stand in the field of energy policy, especially in renewable energies and energy efficiency? Which initiatives and projects are leading the way? Which impact had the Paris Climate Conference (COP 21)? Who is driving development and how can Canada profit from Germany's experiences? These and other questions framed the Canadian-German visitors program that took place from 13 until 17 December 2015 in Berlin and Düsseldorf, focusing on the theme "Energy Policy in Germany." The program hosted 10 stakeholders with professional backgrounds in policy, science and NGO works.

Sustainable development is an established long-term objective of the EU. The European Commission (Eurostat) regularly tracks the progress of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy and the Europe 2020 Strategy by using sustainable development indicators (SDIs). In a consortium with the Vienna University of Economics and Business, INFRAS and the Haymarket Media Group, Ecologic Institute has been drafting the monitoring reports for the strategies since 2008.

The Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) and Ecologic Institute are expanding the Beyond GDP website. The IEEP takes care of managing new content as well as the design of the newsletter. The Ecologic Institute is responsible for the graphical and technical development of the Beyond GDP website and is responsible for incorporating the content changes into the code base and sending the updates.

Krüger, Ina and Susanne Altvater 2015: "CleanSea Fosters Marine Litter Stakeholder Dialogue Across Europe". Coastal & Marine, Special The CleanSea Project: An interdisciplinary study of marine litter in the EU 24.1: 23.

Altvater, Susanne and Heather Leslie 2015: "Let's Get Governing Marine Litter Across Europe". Coastal & Marine, Special The CleanSea Project: An interdisciplinary study of marine litter in the EU 24.1: 21.

The final conference of the EU-funded research project "European Action to Fight Environmental Crime" (EFFACE) took place on 17 and 18 February 2016 in Brussels. More than 100 participants attended the conference - including representatives of EU institutions, national environmental authorities, police, civil society as well as academic experts on the topic from the EU and beyond. 

Cities are at the forefront of the global carbon revolution, breaking established structures and creating new models for integrated systems. At an official side-event at COP21 in Paris, members of the POCACITO project consortium, including Max Gruenig and Camilla Bausch from Ecologic Institute, discussed how cities, serving as hubs of knowledge and learning, are essential catalysts in the global transformation to a post-carbon society.

The overall aim of this project is to support the Committee of the Regions (CoR) by outlining the role cities and local and regional authorities (LRAs) can have in the planning, implementation and financing of more efficient district and renewable heating and cooling systems, usage of local heat, cold and fuel sources, insulation of buildings, the use of biomass in heating and cooling as well as Combined Heat and Power (CHP) generation.

This project, led by Ecologic Institute, aims to take stock of existing soil policy instruments in the EU in order to identify gaps in protection and to support the decision-making process for further policy action. Collaborating closely with experts from 28 EU Member States, the project develops a Wiki-based inventory and an up-to-date assessment of soil policy instruments in the EU. The inventory consists of existing and upcoming policy instruments, including legislation, regulatory and non-binding instruments, measures and targets in the EU Member States and its regions. In an ex-ante and ex-post impact analyses, the effectiveness of soil policy instruments in addressing the soil threats and soil functions in the EU as well as the relevance and coherence of policies is assessed.

Duwe, Matthias; Ralph Bodle; Vicky Noens: Climate Finance: Where Do We Stand Before Paris? POLIMP Webinar. 26 November 2015. Web.