This project was carried out by Ecologic Institute and UCL Centre for Law and the Environment for the EU's Committee of the Regions (CoR). It informed the CoR's ex-post Territorial Impact Assessment on Natura 2000 and the EU Birds and Habitats Directives in light of the European Commission's Fitness Check of the Directives ('REFIT'). The final report "Implementation of Natura 2000 and the Habitats and Birds Directives" is available for download.

<p>The Ecologic Institute is writing a study on success factors for Local and Regional Authorities (LRAs) in implementing the Europe 2020 strategy. The study can help LRAs to develop and initiate their own programs towards successful reaching the Europe 2020 strategy's goals.</p>&#13;

Business resource efficiency is seen by the EU as a key to a sustainable future of a competitive European economy. Increasing resource efficiency of business aids to reduce waste, decrease the pressure on the environment, increase the competitiveness of European markets and to create jobs. Besides, increasing resource efficiency can help companies to minimize their costs. The main objective of the project is to assist Member States in improving and fostering policies to support businesses to become more resource efficient. A particular focus is set on SMEs and the manufacturing sector.

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) obliged Member States to develop the first River Basin Management Plans and Programmes of Measures by December 2009 and to make a report of those to the European Commission by March 2010. The purpose of the programme of measures is to achieve the environmental objectives of the WFD. Under its 'Framework contract to provide services to support the development and implementation of EU freshwater policies', the European Commission DG Environment awarded a Specific Contract to a European consortium to provide support in 'Compliance checking of the Water Framework Directive and Floods Directive Implementation'. Ecologic institute is partner in this consortium led by WRc.

In the future, climate change can impact the effectiveness and costs of water quality improvement measures. This must be taken into account when selecting measures to implement in accordance with the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). Until now, the consequences of climate change have not been systematically incorporated into the economic analyses called for by the WFD. A new book chapter evaluates the basic approaches used to date, thereby contributing to the necessary discussion on how existing and future programs of measures consider and integrate the consequences of climate change.

On 19 November 2014, Dr. Stephan Sina, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, presented the European research project "European Union Action to Fight Environmental Crime (EFFACE)" at the 4th Annual General Meeting of the European Network for Environmental Crime (EnviCrimeNet) in The Hague (Netherlands). Ecologic Institute is the coordinator of the EFFACE project. The presentation slides are available for download.

Martinez, Grit and Mike K. Orbach 2014: "Küstenschutz – Europa und USA im Vergleich", in: Heike Leitschuh et al. (eds.): Jahrbuch Ökologie 2015. Re-Naturierung. Stuttgart: S. Hirzel Verlag, 214-222.

When and why were environmental think tanks founded in Germany? How is the system for environmental consulting organized in Germany today? What is the daily work of an environmental think tank? Susanne Langsdorf, researcher at Ecologic Institute, presented the system in which environmental research and consultancy is organised in Germany and the daily work of an environmental think tank to students.

Monica Ridgway; Beáta Vargová (2014): Supporting the Transition to a Post-carbon Society – POCACITO Poster Series. Poster. Berlin: Ecologic Institute.

On 14 November 2014 the workshop "model examples for prevention and management of marine litter in the Baltic and North" was held at Ecologic Institute in Berlin. Stefanie Schmidt presented "Governance schemes and measures for the prevention of marine litter -case study Germany," which were analyzed in the context of CLEANSEA. Following her presentation, she discussed with participating stakeholders from government, industry, academia and environmental organizations, the strengths and weaknesses of the existing approach and considered need and options for action. The presentation slides are available for download.

Susanne Altvater from Ecologic Institute moderated a workshop of the CleanSea project team with stakeholders of the German administration, industry, science community and NGOs. She presented aims and tasks of the CleanSea project. The presentation slides can be downloaded.

Ina Krüger's presentation gives a brief introduction to the ongoing works on task 5.2 of the CleanSea project, for which model cases are analysed concerning their current and possible future contribution to the prevention and management of marine litter in the Mediterranean, Baltic and North Sea. In the first part of this presentation the preliminary results of the analysis matrix are presented. In the second part, a model case on the collection and recycling of ghost nets is analysed and discussed in depth. The presentation slides are available for download.

On 3 December 2014, the first progress report from the Federal Government and a joint statement from the Expert Commission about the "Energy of the Future" monitoring process were presented. Ecologic Institute supports the work of the Expert Commission by providing scientific input. The joint statement from the Expert Commission is available for download.