A new report by the Ecologic Institute makes concrete proposals for reforming the EU Effort Sharing Decision (ESD). A reduction target for 2050 as well as a robust review and target adjustment mechanism are highlighted as the main reform proposals. The report also touches on proposals for enhancing the flexibility of the ESD. The report is available for download.

On 19 April 2016, Stephan Sina and Christiane Gerstetter, Senior Fellows at Ecologic Institute, presented a study on wildlife crime to the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) of the European Parliament in Brussels. The study was compiled by a consortium lead by Ecologic Institute and published recently on the European Parliament's website. The presentation is available for download.

According to Chinese authorities, the coronavirus spread to humans from wildlife at a wildlife market in Wuhan. Most likely, Ebola and AIDS also originated from wildlife. Besides the serious threats to biodiversity and sustainable development, the risk for human health is thus an additional reason to strengthen the efforts to combat wildlife trafficking and other forms of wildlife crime. Over the last years, Ecologic Institute has published several studies on environmental compliance and crime related to wildlife crime. The most comprehensive study on wildlife crime was presented to the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) of the European Parliament in Brussels in April 2016.

The Ecologic Institute, together with a consortium, conducted a study on wildlife crime, which gives an overview over the state of wildlife crime in Europe. As as a basis for this study, in-depth analyses were carried out for five EU member states. Ecologic Institute conducted the in-depth analysis of wildlife crime in Germany. The analysis concludes that Germany is not a main destination for illegal wildlife products from iconic species, but still an important destination for live animals like reptiles for the pet market. It is also an important transit country for ivory and other illegally traded animal parts from Western and Central Africa with East and South-East Asia as the main region of destination. The studies were compiled on behalf of the European Parliament and are available for download.

On 21 April 2016, the final conference of the EU-FP7 funded project “POLIMP” took place in Brussels. How can climate policies be designed, what impacts do they have and what other options are there? These are important questions to stakeholders and policy-makers. The project POLIMP aims at making answers to these issues more easily accessible and understandable. To this end, POLIMP examines knowledge gaps for different policy and decision making levels and covers these with the help of existing research results.

This chapter examines the complex interactions between society and the environment in the Atlantic Space. Ecologic Institute authors highlight examples of cooperation, leadership and the increasing polycentrism of Atlantic environmental governance. It is part of a publication that gathers insights from over four years of EU funded research within the scope of the Atlantic Future research project. The full publication is available for download.

In their review of the past, present and future energy systems in the Wider Atlantic, Ecologic Institute authors find that the Atlantic Space dominates all aspects of the world's energy systems, and that this will not change with foreseeable energy transformations. Some energy systems are in decline: nuclear power for economic and technological risk-related reasons and fossil energies for reasons related to economics and climate change. Growth of an emerging new energy system, based on renewable energies, is accelerating as the costs of renewable technologies fall. The publication is available for download.

In 2015 and 2016, Ecologic Institute supported the European Commission in the assessment of compliance of proposals for LIFE Integrated Projects in the areas of Nature and Water with technical and financial eligibility criteria.

As part of the visual identity for project "Resource Efficient Food and dRink for the Entire Supply cHain" (REFRESH), Ecologic Institute designed two promotional flyers in small postcard format. The flyers summarizes general objectives and aims of the project, are styled according to the project style-guides and contains an project information, contact and an QR-code directing to the project website. Flyers are distributed during project events.

AQUACROSS consortium 2016: Knowledge, Assessment, and Management for AQUAtic Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services aCROSS EU policies. Brochure.

Climate change and other pressures are impacting the environment and water resources in the Mediterranean, requiring plans for how to adapt the management of affected river basins and their water resources to changing future conditions. To address this challenge, a series of workshops organized by Ecologic Institute and local case study partners (CREAF, CyI, INRGREF and IzVRS) were held in March and April 2016 across the Mediterranean as part of the EU-funded BeWater project to gain stakeholder input for further developing tailored river basin adaptation plans.

In the third installment of the webinar series accompanying Ecologic Institute's ETS e-learning program, moderated by Elizabeth Zelljadt, expert guest speaker Duan Maosheng (Tsinghua University) commented on China's pilot carbon markets and experiences in becoming ETS "market ready." He provided unique examples of capacity gaps that were overcome and others that remain a challenge, shedding light on China's plans for a nationwide ETS to begin in 2017.

The final synthesis of the 40 month long EFFACE research project is now available. The report is addressed at decision-makers and presents core findings from the EFFACE project in an accessible language. The final synthesis is available for download.

We are excited to announce the eighth and final webinar in our POLIMP Webinar Series, which will feature a discussion with Prof. Michael Grubb, author of the book Planetary Economics, on the topic "Are EU climate policies up to the challenge of decarbonizing Europe?". The webinar will be moderated by Ecologic Institute’s Benjamin Görlach (Head, Economics and Policy Assessment).

A new report presents the conclusions and policy recommendations of the EU-funded research project, "European Union Action to Fight Environmental Crime" (EFFACE). The report includes recommendations for action to better combat environmental crime at the EU and Member State level, distinguishing between core and supplementary recommendations. In addition to these recommendations, questions for further research are identified. The report is available for download.