The G8 climate change outcomes, recent action in the U.S. Senate and developments on the subnational levels within the U.S. constitute a potential crossroad for transatlantic climate change policy. In light of these developments, Senior Fellow Markus Knigge participated in an expert policy maker seminar on subnational strategies for clean energy investment, technology deployment and innovation.

The international workshop "Implementing the Economic Aspects of the WFD – Future Challenges in the Elbe River Basin", held in Leipzig on 7-8 July 2005, saw a gathering of 60 WFD experts from all over Europe. The results of this workshop have been summarised by Britta Pielen, Benjamin Görlach and Robert Holländer.

The huge variety of subsidies, taxes and charges in the transport sector make it very difficult to assess whether all modes of transport are indeed priced according to the external effects they impose on others. In order to ensure fair competition and a level playing field for different modes of transport, transport prices need to reflect the true costs of transport. To better understand this issue, the EEA has commissioned Ecologic and the Chair for Transport Ecology at the TU Dresden to provide an overview of subsidies, taxes and charges in the European transport sector.

"A Bridge to the Future: the High-Level Trans-Atlantic Dialogue on Climate Change" is a series of meetings bringing together a selected group of distinguished policy players from diverse backgrounds to explore possibilities for finding common ground on energy and climate policy across the Atlantic. Markus Knigge, Senior Fellow at Ecologic, participated in the second session of this dialogue, which was held in Washington, DC on 20 and 21 September 2005.

Public acceptance of renewable energies is fundamental to further increasing their share in the overall energy supply. Ecologic organised a series of five future labs to investigate public acceptance at the regional level and to elaborate policy recommendations on how to generate further support for renewables.

During a workshop conducted by Ecologic Institute and the German Federal Environmental Agency on the matter of user charges on global environmental goods, Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf gave two speeches on the legal parameters of the introduction of a levy on airplane tickets as well as on emissions. Participants of the workshop were representatives of the German Government, of the EU-Commission as well as representatives of academia, industry and NGOs.

In his contribution for the symposium "Representation of Interests by NGOs at European Level" at the Bucerius Law School, Dr. Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf focused on the influence of European environmental interest groups on European environmental Policy. Dr. Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf analysed the institutional structures of European environmental NGOs and illustrated their success and deficits in influencing European environmental Policy. Therein, he focused on the Green G8, an umbrella association of European environmental NGOs and the European Environmental Bureau (EEB).

A crucial factor for improving water management is the use of economic approaches and instruments. Eduard Interwies, Senior Fellow at Ecologic, illustrated the possible use of European experiences in the Mediterranean region.

European Commission plans indicate that the water supply should no longer be subject to municipal self-administration, but instead to European competition rules, and maybe even to a mandatory tendering procedure. Such a development would have far-reaching effects on the German drinking water supply, which is characterised by strong communal influence.

The Yearbook Ecology 2006 was published at the end of September 2005. Ecologic is one of the institutes supporting this yearbook. This year's focus is on the assessment of German environmental policy under the SPD and Greens, current conceptualisations of nature, genetically modified organisms, as well as environment and development issues.

“Engaging the Climate Behemoths: Transforming Energy Policy in America and China” was the topic of the Transatlantic Climate Dinner in honour of William K. Reilly, co-chair of the US National Commission on Energy Policy (NCEP). The challenges for China’s coal driven energy sector as well as for the US, considering not only energy and climate protection needs but also the wish for economic growth, were discussed in the light of the new proposals of the NCEP. This Transatlantic Climate Dinner Dialogue took place on 6 September 2005 in Berlin.

In recent years, the Open Method of Co-ordination (OMC) has emerged as an increasingly important instrument of EU governance. Rather than relying on legally binding rules, the OMC works through the diffusion and evaluation of information. On 2 September 2005 Ingmar von Homeyer, Senior Fellow at Ecologic, gave a presentation on the application of the OMC in EU environmental policy at a workshop organised by the German Federal Office for Building and Spatial Planning (BBR) in Bonn.

This year’s International Summer Academy of the University of Greifswald, “Energy and the Environment”, took place in Irkutsk, Russia, from 21 to 27 August 2005. The focus was "Implementing Kyoto – Opportunities and Challenges for Transition Countries". Christine Lucha and Dr. Camilla Bausch were asked to give a lecture on their experiences in the gathering of CO2-data needed for the establishment of the German National Allocation Plan (NAP), as part of the implementation of the new European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS).