Linking emissions trading schemes has currently attracted much interest as a means of reducing compliance costs, expanding market size and liquidity, and reducing price volatility. The US and Canada are developing federal emissions trading systems, and Mexico is developing an emissions cap for its cement and oil sectors. Strong economic ties imply that linking the systems could become desirable. Linking systems can have both positive and negative implications, but once the decision has been made, framework and policy harmonization is vital to establish and maintain a successful link. Michael Mehling of the Ecologic Institute in Washington, DC co-authored this article.

The sharing of benefits from the use of genetic resources between the traditional users and cultivators of such resources and those that wish to use them for commercial or research purposes is a major issue under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). In this book chapter, Christiane Gerstetter of Ecologic Legal develops recommendations for provider countries on how to implement the CBD requirement that benefits should be shared fairly and equitably.

In this book chapter, R. Andreas Kraemer from Ecologic Institute addresses the governance of water and the EU's Water Framework Directive, focusing mainly on subsidiarity applied to water policy. He describes the conflict arising from a territorial and a bioregional perspective on the subject, and the management of this conflict through the principle of subsidiarity. The chapter features an outline of the Water Framework Directive's origin and its core ideas, illustrates approaches of water management using examples, including one from the Danube River region, and a number of hydrological maps and gives an outlook to further developments of the water governance area.

Environmental policy-makers and stakeholders from the non-governmental, academic and private sectors from 19 countries gathered in Berlin from 27 July to 7 August 2009 in the first ICAP Summer School for Emerging and Developing Countries. The intensive two-week training event, designed and organised by the Ecologic Institute on behalf of and in collaboration with the International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP), provided insights into the complexities of emissions trading systems to enable participants' countries to harmonise their environmental policies for full participation in a future global carbon market. A second summer school will be held in the Netherlands in 2010.

The Ecologic Institute coordinated the five-year project RADOST (Regional Adaptation Strategies for the German Baltic Sea Coast). The Baltic coastline of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Schleswig-Holstein is one of seven model regions in Germany that were supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through the initiative KLIMZUG ("Managing climate change in the regions for the future"). The aim of the RADOST project was to develop regional adaptation strategies in a dialogue between research institutions, business, public administration and civil society.

On 5-12 July 2009, the second transatlantic Farmer-to-Farmer exchange brought together farmers, foresters, journalists and policy-makers from the United States and Germany to discuss the role of agriculture in future climate policies. On their trip through Ohio and Pennsylvania and ending in Washington DC, the group of 30 participants visited several farms applying climate friendly agricultural practices, as well as biofuel and algae processing facilities. One topic of major concerns was possible ways to off-set GHG emissions by industry through mitigation activities in agriculture. Moreover, participants intensively exchanged knowledge and experiences in different bioenergy applications.

Twenty-one countries share the Mediterranean's coastline, with no single country responsible for its environmental deterioration or its protection. They are collectively responsible for both. Over four decades, the environmental dimension of Europe's policy toward its Mediterranean neighbours has become increasingly prominent. This article by Pamela Lesser, Fellow with Ecologic Institute, Washington DC, published in the Mediterranean Quarterly, Volume 20, Issue 2, deals with Europe's environmental policy toward its Mediterranean neighbours and the newly launched Union for the Mediterranean.

On 7 July 2009, the Ecologic Institute co-hosted a Dinner Dialogue on "Current Trends in the American Climate Debate and Prospects for a Global Deal in Copenhagen" with the German Marshall Fund of the US. Keynote speakers were Elliot Diringer, Vice President for International Strategies at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, and Nicole Wilke, Head of Division for International Climate Policy at the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.

The results of the flagship project on "Institutional Interaction" on Conflicts and Synergies between International and EU Environmental Institutions, financed by the European Commission (GD Research) and Ecologic, were presented and discussed with scholars at two Annual Conventions of the International Studies Association (ISA) in Portland, Oregon, in 2003 and in San Diego, California, in 2006. Sebastian Oberthür and Thomas Gehring chaired the sessions with scientists from the Institutional Interaction project team presenting, and Oran Young leading the discussion on the interaction and synergies among institutions in international environmental governance.

In the current political debate, justice seems equivalent with even income distribution. Other justice aspects appear absent: studies show that low-income groups suffer more from pollution than high-income groups. This includes noise, air pollution and lack of accessible green spaces. At the same time, higher-income groups consume more resources than the poor. Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf discusses in brief these issues in the MigrantInnenUmweltZeitschrift (MUZ), Issue 2.