Does international law allow implementing climate policies of different speeds? Can countries form pioneer alliances for ambitious climate protection or are the UN Framework Convention and the Kyoto Protocol a straight jacket?
 This project and a new paper answers these questions.

Dimitrova, Asya; Anna Dimitrova; Markus Hametner and Tanja Srebotnjak 2014: Blueprint for a Revised Europe 2020 strategy: preliminary study.

What shape will the future governance framework of European climate and energy policy take? The proposal submitted by the European Commission at the beginning of this year raises more questions than it answers in this regard. Dr. Camilla Bausch and Christine Lucha of the Ecologic Institute invited experts to a workshop to discuss the meaning of the commission's suggestions with a particular view toward electricity infrastructure. All presentation slides are available for download.

What role does biodiversity play for human welfare and happiness? How do understandings of the connection between these issues differ between the global north and global south? In this project, commissioned by the GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit), these questions were investigated against the background of the controversial discussion about the "commodification of nature", in order to assess differences and commonalities between various models of development. The project examined how different paradigms are applied in the practice of development cooperation.

The German energy transition impacts neighbouring countries; however this fact has yet to be adequately addressed in Germany. This study builds on insights gained during trilateral meetings and provides information and analyses which explain the different approaches and debates in the Czech Republic, Germany, and Poland. The authors – among them Dr. Camilla Bausch and Sascha Müller-Kraenner from Ecologic Institute – offer a range of recommendations, in particular for better cross-border cooperation and intensified dialogue with the goal of facing our energy and climate challenges together. The study is available for download.

During the 11th European IFSA Symposium Dr. Ana Frelih-Larsen, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, outlined the existing mechanisms for soil protection in general and soil organic matter (soil carbon) specifically. She explained the requirements for better policies to protect soil organic matters. Sandra Naumann chaired the session. The presentation slides are available for download.

The Eurostat monitoring report, based on the EU set of sustainable development indicators and published every two years, provides an objective, statistical picture of progress towards the goals and objectives of the EU SDS. This 'lite' version of the 2013 monitoring report makes use of the universal language of visuals, offering a shortcut to the essence of the messages delivered through the full version of the monitoring report. It thus provides a snapshot of the key trends related to sustainable development in the European Union. Seven members of the Ecologic Institute contributed to this edition.

On 1 and 2 April 2014, Christiane Gerstetter, Senior Fellow on the Ecologic Institute's legal team, gave two presentations in Brussels on investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). She concluded that including ISDS in TTIP would entail incalculable risks for environmental regulation that are not counter-balanced by benefits. She therefore recommended not to include ISDS provisions in TTIP. The presentations are available for download.

A policy brief written by Katharina Umpfenbach and colleagues for DG Environment summarises the most relevant scientific insights and analyses the implications for policy making. It highlights novel policy ideas for triggering changes in consumer behaviour. The policy brief is available for download.