What can be learnt from current experience on EU climate policy? How can the future instrument mix be improved, looking at the transformation that needs to take place to achieve deep emission cuts? Speakers at a side event seminar at the COP19 UN climate conference in Warsaw addressed these and other questions around policy instrumentation and discussed relevant recent research results. All presentation slides are available for download.

During the International VDI Conference-Biomethane 2013, major issues for the biogas and biomethane markets in technical, political and business areas, drawing on leading experiences from all over Europe, Russia and China were discussed. Dr. Wolfgang Urban, Fellow at Ecologic Institute, presented German political targets and utilization priorities for biomethane. Furthermore he spoke on the current legal framework and incentive scheme as well as the challenges and future perspectives and conclusions from amendment of legal framework. The presentation slides are available for download.

On 5 November 2013, Ecologic Institute and the Embassy of Canada, Berlin, hosted a presentation by Jeannette Menzies, head of the Canadian International Centre for the Arctic Region (CICAR), on the topic of "Canada's Arctic Council Chairmanship". Jeannette Menzies elaborated on Canadian priorities and key initiatives for the next two years in this important regional forum. Arne Riedel, Researcher at Ecologic Institute, moderated the ensuing discussion with an expert audience – including fellows of the Arctic Summer College, via live video stream – covering a number of areas. In addition to questions regarding the Arctic Council, the included other issues, such as support for and exchange in science and research, as well as the inclusion of the private sector in the economic development of the region.

In the medium-term, biomass is expected to be an important part of the German energy mix. In this journal article, Ecologic Institute's Wolfgang Urban and Michael Jandewerth (Fraunhofer UMSICHT) present the results of the project "Biogas Feed-In" which was sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The focus lies on the question of how processed biogas can be fed into the natural gas network under concrete local conditions. The article, which has been published in "Informationen zur Raumentwicklung", is available for download.

During this 6th Biogas workshop Dr. Wolfgang Urban, Fellow at Ecologic Institute, presented the current state, objectives, and procedures on the way to the revised Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG 2.0). He described the challenges within the energy transition process and possible prospects of bioenergies. The presentation slides are available for download.

Dr. Wolfgang Urban, Fellow at Ecologic Institute, spoke at the 7th VDI conference "Biogas 2013." He informed about the objectives and guidelines as well as the current status of discussions on the funding framework for renewable energies. He also discussed the possible contribution of bioenergies to future energy supply and future challenges. The presentation slides are available for download.

From 30 to 31 October 2013, a workshop entitled "Shaping Arctic Change through Conscious Choices" took place at the Abisko Scientific Research Station in Northern Sweden, ca. 200km north of the Polar Circle. Together with Shiloh Fetzek (International Institute for Strategic Studies - IISS, London) Golo Bartsch, Associate of the Ecologic Institute and PhD candidate at Bielefeld University, chaired one of the workshop's panels dealing with security issues. The workshop's results were drafted in a joint paper, which is due to publication in the coming weeks.

Ecologic paper discusses potential implications of TTIP on the (re-)municipalisation of energy services and community power projects.

On 22 October 2013, Dr. Stephan Sina, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, moderated a discussion on the planned Energiewende Act for Berlin with about 90 representatives taking part, from business, policy, and administration, in Berlin City Hall. This was the second event on an Energiewende Act for Berlin organized by the Senate Department for Urban Development and the Environment. A summary of the discussion is available for download.

The water and wastewater sectors face tremendous challenges to assure safe, cost-effective, and sustainable water supply and sanitation services. Detecting and treating emerging pollutants has become a critical need in these sectors. Innovative technologies could hold the key to solving these challenges. To support the market penetration and broader application of innovative methods and technologies in the water and wastewater sectors, DEMEAU cooperates with relevant policy makers, regulators, and standardisation bodies as well as with technology producers and users on the national and EU level. The DEMEAU newsletter delivers insights and shares developments within the DEMEAU FP7 project.

This survey of Dominik Müller, Senior Analyst at Ecologic Institute, describes the regulatory and policy framework for the promotion of renewable energies in Germany as amended by the "Energiewende" announced by the German Federal Government in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster. The article focuses on changes in the electricity sector chiefly through fundamental amendments of the Renewable Energies Sources Act ("Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz – EEG") since 2011. Moreover, the article also discusses the political and regulatory situation for the use of renewable energies in the heat and transport sectors in Germany.

Agriculture provides substantial ecosystem services which lead to several benefits that humans derive from nature. This report examines the quantitative connection between provisioning agro-ecosystem services in terms of food, feed, fibers, and fuel supply and the ecological demands of these ecosystems. Energy balances of agro-ecosystems as well as different biophysical structures and processes were applied to quantify the relationship between these different services. Moreover, trade-offs between provisioning and other ecosystem services such as regulating and cultural services are discussed.

ELEEP is a dynamic, membership-only forum for the exchange of ideas, policy solutions, best-practices and professional development for early and mid-career North American and European leaders working on environmental and energy issues. Ecologic Institute developed ELEEP's website which offers a place for ELEEP members to interactively exchange information in a blog, register for ELEEP study tours, get news about ELEEP and join online events. The website also contains a dynamic map displaying the origins of ELEEP's fellows and alumni.