In September 2014, Dr. Camilla Bausch and Lena Donat conducted a 2-days training to enhance the negotiation skills of Lebanese negotiators at the international negotiations on climate change. The final workshop report is available for download.

Smart homes offer significant potential to enable new energy saving services and capabilities offered via smart grids. However, research reveals that consumer perception regarding reliability and data privacy risks, as well as high costs of technologies act as significant barriers to consumer acceptance of smart homes. In a paper, published in Energy Research and Social Science, Benjamin Boteler and co-authors investigated the differences and similarities in technical and economic drivers and barriers to smart home market development in the UK, Germany, and Italy. The paper European smart home market development: Public views on technical and economic aspects across the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy is available for download.

To achieve the Europe 2020 goals the EU installed the European semester, a yearly cycle of European policy coordination. Although it was supposed to effect the national level, it also influenced regional and local developments. Thus economic and fiscal governance in the European Union were boosted. This report presents two concepts for an indicator which measures regional progress.

The SWITCH-ON workshop brought together developers and end-users of a variety of open data based water information products from all over Europe to test these tools hands-on and to discuss their opportunities and challenges. The goal of the 1.5-day workshop was to identify the potential and operational needs of water-related information tools and services based on open data. SWITCH-ON develops state-of-the-art information products and services for water management and environmental awareness.

Christiane Gerstetter, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, participated in a panel discussion at the representation of the German state of Baden-Württemberg in Berlin. She presented among other things the results of a study on regulatory cooperation in the context of the planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The presentation is available for download.

The UN climate negotiations are currently working towards a new global climate agreement, to be concluded at the end of 2015 in Paris. Until then, a marathon of negotiation sessions is scheduled to take place. In the run-up to the third of four rounds of negotiations in October 2014 in Bonn and just a few weeks before the start of the 2014 climate summit in Lima, Peru (COP-22), a group of 30 interested experts came together at Ecologic Institute for a Climate Talk to take stock.

This study, launched in October 2012, seeks to identify performing EPR schemes for different waste streams (e.g. ELV, WEEE, Batteries, Packaging, Paper, Used Oil) and prepare detailed case studies, in order to identify common characteristics across schemes, which could serve as a guide for improving the effectiveness of such schemes. The study should allow the Commission to formulate new proposals to ensure an optimal use of EPR schemes. The study is available for download.

In this article, published in the journal Frankfurter Hefte, Christiane Gerstetter from Ecologic Instiute takes a stand on environmental aspects in the discussion on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) that is currently negotiated between the EU and the USA.

This report, written by Ecologic Institute, the Institute for Managing Sustainability, and ICLEI indicates the importance of local and regional authorities (LRAs) to achieve the targets of Europe 2020. Additionally, it includes guidelines and suggestions for a better involvement of the local and regional authorities besides focusing on targets that are more realistic. The report includes desk analysis and broad online consultation to substantiate this document and is available for download.

A recent study provides the members of the European Parliament Committee on Environment, Public Health, and Food Safety (ENVI Committee) with the needed expertise to monitor the ongoing negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement. The study was co-authored by Ecologic Institute, Bio IS, and the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) and serves as a follow-up to a 2013 study entitled "Legal Implications of TTIP for the Acquis Communautaire in ENVI Relevant Sectors."

The Renewable Energy Directive established a framework for promoting renewable energy development in all sectors, binding national targets and a mandatory target of 10% for all Member States for renewable energy use in transport. By now, the transposition can be considered as largely complete in the majority of Member States. Driven by the Commission's programme on Regulatory Fitness and performance: results and next steps (REFIT), the study aims at assessing the efficiency of measures and actions laid down in the Directive in view of achieving its outcomes. A focus is on the administrative burden for administrations and businesses at Member State level.

An invited poster presentation to the 2014 BEHAVE Energy Conference. Caiati, Giovanni and Adam Pearson 2014: The Role of Behaviours in Energy Transition: The holistic approach of Human Energy. Poster: Laboratory of Citizenship Sciences, Ecologic Institute.

A study of leading city and community-level energy transitions demonstrates behavioral changes across personal, social, and external dimensions. Giovanni Caiati (Laboratory of Citizenship Sciences) and Adam Pearson, Transatlantic Fellow at Ecologic Institute presented research that shows social and behavioral aspects contribute strongly to energy transition processes.