In an effort to increase education on the environmental, health and socioeconomic impacts of unconventional drilling such as fracking, Ecologic Institute and FracTracker Alliance are collaborating through an initiative to share the American fracking experience. As part of this initiative, a compelling series of 14 US-based and international workshops in affected communities has been created. One such workshop was hosted by the South Florida Wildlands Association in partnership with Ecologic Institute and FracTracker to share the latest insights on oil development activities (including seismic testing) in Florida and ways that the public can get involved.

On 27 February 2015, experts from Germany and the United States joined in Washington, D.C. at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to discuss their work as it related to the conference theme, The Geopolitics of Energy. This conference was sponsored by the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at Johns Hopkins University with participation by Ecologic Institute Berlin.

On 10 April 2015, Christiane Gerstetter, Senior Fellow in Ecologic Institute's legal team, gave a presentation on the relationship between international trade and environmental agreements at a conference of the Protestant Academy Hofgeismar. The conference centered on the topic: "Natural enemies – Environmental protection and free global trade as a legal and political problem." The presentation slides are available for download.

What progress have EU Member States made in implementing the Water Framework Directive between the first (2009) to the second cycle (2015) of river basin management planning? A consultant's report co-authored by Ecologic Institute is provides initial insights on the basis of a screening assessment of the second River Basin Management Plans draft, prepared for the fourth European Water Conference. The report is available for download.

Developing countries are the main providers of genetic resources and traditional knowledge. Conversely, most intellectual property rights (IPRs) on seeds and medicines are concentrated in developed countries. This has some disadvantages for developing countries. Thus, patents on seed or pharmaceutical products sometimes make the access to such products for the poor more difficult and expensive; there are hardly any positive effects of IPRs on fighting poverty by contrast. This is the result of a study for the European Parliament that Ecologic Institute helped to write. The study, which was written by Ecologic Institute (Christiane Gerstetter, Christine Lucha, Katriona McGlade and Elizabeth Tedsen) and Vrije Universiteit Brussel is available for download.

Despite the continuous international efforts to reduce energy poverty, about 2.7 billion people do not have access to modern energy services in the developing countries. This study analyses the current situation, outlines the main challenges but also provides best practice examples how the challenges can be met. Eike Dreblow from Ecologic Institute was one of the authors. The final results of this project are available for download.

In December 2010, the EU Commission published a Green Book on the future of EU development policy, entitled "EU development policy in support of inclusive growth and sustainable development – Increasing the impact of EU development policy." Christiane Gerstetter and Benjamin Görlach of Ecologic Institute responded to a question from the European Parliament on the relationship between climate change, biodiversity and development. The brief is available for download.

The study "An Assessment of the Balancing of EU Development Objectives with Other Policies and Priorities", to which Ecologic Institutes scientists Christiane Gerstetter and Jenny Kirschey contributed, evaluates the coherence between the EU's development policies and its other policies. Its authors describe the positive and negative impacts of these policies on development priorities and provide recommendations to achieve better policy coherence. The study was commissioned by the European Parliament and is available for download.

In a policy brief for the European Parliament, researchers at Ecologic Institute examine how access to land affects development and poverty eradication in developing countries. The authors Christiane Gerstter, Timo Kaphengst, Doris Knoblauch and Krista Timeus discuss the assumption that land ownership increases productivity and provide an overview of land reforms and large-scale land acquisitions in developing countries. Finally, the brief provides a series of recommendations for European policy-makers. The brief is available for download.

Ecologic Institute contributed key components of a comprehensive review of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) as part of a consortium of institutions who specialise in environmental policy. The review informs a stakeholder process for improving the EU ETS that is part of Europe's "climate and energy package 2030."

This manual focuses on the site specific evaluation of the efficiency of fish protection and bypass systems. Standardized evaluation principles are defined to promote significant, comparable studies. The manual constitutes a framework for an objective evaluation process. The developed planning, investigation and evaluation processes provide a base for consistent study results to improve the scientific knowledge and to optimize effective site specific solutions.

In their policy paper "International Trade Policy in the Context of Climate Change Imperatives" for the Committee on International Trade, Christiane Gerstetter, Michael Mehling and Tanja Srebotnjak examine the relationship between trade and climate change as well as the potential of trade and trade policies to contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation.

EU water policy under the 10th European Development Fund has shifted its focus away from Public Private Partnerships (PPP) in water management in ACP countries towards Public-Public (PuP) Partnerships. PUPs are new partnerships developed between public water operators, communities, trade unions and other key groups, without profit motive and on a basis of equality. The Overseas Development Institute (Josephine Tucker and Roger Calow) and Ecologic Institute (Darla Nickel and Thomas Thaler) conducted a study for the European Parliament that provided an evaluation of the comparative advantage of different partnership approaches in water policy.

Do you need a quick overview of climate targets in the EU? Or have you wanted to find out about stakeholder perspectives on the EU Emissions Trading System? The Climate Policy Info Hub gives the answers and provides insights on consequences of possible climate policy directions.

Christoph Stefes, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, presented during the one-day workshop "Making a case against environmental crime" his case study on environmental crime in the mining sector of the Republic of Armenia. The case study looks at the causes of environmental crime in Armenia, taking the mining sector as an example. It describes measures that the European Union could take to contribute to preventing future environmental crime in the country. The case study is available for download.