Oekom research AG is one of the world's leading providers of information on the social and environmental performance of companies, sectors and countries. The scientifically based rating system for the assessment of businesses and their products, processes, services and business models is being constantly updated with the support of an independent advisory board, co-chaired by R. Andreas Kraemer of Ecologic.

Many Member States of the European Union have come up with programmes to foster Small and Medium Enterprises' (SME) compliance with environmental law or to help SME better their environmental performance. This is because SME playing a pre-eminent role in the economic structure of the European Union are a source of considerable impacts on the environment. This objective of this project is to gain an overview of those programmes in the Member States and to pick best practice cases.

The Università Luigi Bocconi organised a conference on behalf of the Milan municipality to analyse Milan's wastewater treatment system as regards sustainability issues, organisational models and future challenges. The conference took place on 4 May 2006. Researchers from around Europe presented five case studies on European experience with wastewater management in urban areas. Ecologic Fellow Nadine Herbke presented the results of the Berlin and Emscher case studies.

This project aimed at realising a comparative evaluation of the development of urban wastewater systems against the  background of the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). This evaluation was based on five case studies undertaken as part of the project and discussed at an international conference in Milan on 4 May 2006. An expected result was to gain knowledge on the technological, economic, management and institutional consequences arising from a shift from an approach dominated by point-source emission standards to one focusing on the good ecological standards of water bodies. Ecologic undertook two of the case studies, one being on the Emscher Region and one on Berlin.

6 June 2006 marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of the German Federal Ministry of Environment. Martin Jaenicke, R. Andreas Kraemer, and Helmut Weidner co-authored a "Critical Congratulation from the Science Community" (in German only) looking at achievements, challenges, and future perspectives of environmental policy in Germany and beyond.

The use of public procurement policy to achieve sustainable development objectives has increased steadily over the past decade. Amongst the various "green procurement" initiatives, forestry is a sector which received much attention. However, unlike areas such as product safety or energy efficiency, the use of public procurement to enhance sustainable forest management (SFM) is extremely complex – largely because the elements of SFM are broad ranging, variable, and to some extent controversial.

First methodological ideas on how to proceed with the cost-effectiveness analysis under the EU Water Framework Directive have already been developed by a number of European Member States. Yet, important methodological challenges remain, in particular with regard to a scale adapted procedure. This paper takes up the current debate and develops ideas on how to address the problem of interlinking bottom-up and top-down approaches for the selection of cost-effective sets of measures under the Directive.

With flooding in Central Europe once more headline news this spring and the loss of at least twelve lives across Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia, the proposal for a new Floods Directive from the European Commission in January 2006 seems like a timely intervention. Ecologic together with IEEP has produced a preliminary assessment of the Flood Directive proposed by the European Commission. It is intended as a policy briefing to help inform members of the European Parliament about the issues involved when discussing the proposal.

For the preparations of the informal Council of Environmental Ministers under the Austrian EU presidency, Ecologic contributed to a discussion paper on the urban environment and environmental technologies. The paper discusses in particular the Thematic Strategy on the Urban Environment of the European Commmission and the potential for the use of environmental technologies in cities.

The RhineNet project, a multi-stakeholder initiative to foster sustainable water management through strengthening public participation in the Rhine basin, was featured as a local action at the World Water Forum held in Mexico City in March 2006. Nicole Kranz, Fellow with Ecologic, presented the key aspects and lessons learned of RhineNet on behalf of the entire project team in a session organized by the International Network of Basin Organization (INBO) on "Users' and public participation and common cause in basin management".

The implications of rising oil prices and the effects of climate change for growth in Germany were the topic of the Dinner Dialogue in honour of Dennis Meadows, co-author of "Limits To Growth". The 30 year update of the 1972 best seller has been the staring point for the discussion taking place in Berlin on 3 April 2006.