This chapter in the Handbook for the EU-Water Framework Directive addresses the causes of hydromorphological shortcomings and the consequences of hydraulic engineering interventions on the ecological status of water bodies. The authors, Stephan von Keitz and R. Andreas Kraemer, analyse the possibilities to bring navigational interests, the use of hydropower, and flood control measures in line with the goals of the Water Framework Directive.

In this chapter of the Handbook for the EU-Water Framework Directive, Stephan von Keitz and R. Andreas Kraemer present the possibilities for diverse stakeholder involvement – including agriculture, industry, water, transportation policy and others. The options are organised into short- and long-term implementation recommendations.

What are the specific administrative challenges of the Water Framework Directive. How should its administrative responses be structured – with respect to organisation, personnel, and information technology? What role do the pilot projects play in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive? Peter Kessler, Ecologic Senior Policy Advisor, addresses these issues in the Handbook for the EU-Water Framework Directive.

Successful and cost-effective implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) will depend on a deep understanding of the WFD’s economic dimensions. Eduard Interwies, Britta Pielen, Benjamin Görlach, and R. Andreas Kraemer have co-authored a chapter about these critical economic considerations and implications in a policy handbook on the WFD. Drawing from the 2004 economic analysis of the WFD, the authors examine the current and future challenges of integrating a full economic perspective into the WFD’s implementation.

This policy handbook for the EU-Water Framework Directive (WFD) has been published as a 2nd, fully updated edition in 2006. It comprises 9 chapters from 37 authors – five of them members of the Ecologic Team. The handbook covers all steps of the WFD implementation, with topics ranging from the analysis of pressures and impacts to the selection of measures, and from the integration of nature conservation requirements to the designation of heavily modified water bodies. It aims to provide hands-on guidance on all aspects of the WFD’s implementation in Germany for policymakers, academic scholars and civil society actors.

On invitation of DG Economic and Financial Affairs and DG Environment, Ingo Bräuer, Fellow at Ecologic, gave a presentation on the use of Market Based Instruments in the field of nature conservation.

The project's objective is to identify optimal waste management strategies for three different European regions. A multidisciplinary (environmental, economic, social, legal) approach is applied in evaluating different strategies. Ecologic will cover the socio-economic assessment of the identified strategies.

EU Member States are increasingly using market-based instruments such as taxes, subsidies or tradable permits to conserve Biodiversity. Ecologic has been commissioned by DG Environment to analyse the current use of Market Based Instruments (MBIs) like taxes, fees and charges to protect biodiversity. Based on this, Ecologic collaborated with its project partners in preparing a report that evaluates the success and failure of these instruments and assesses their potential for wider use in different contexts in the future. The report is available for download.

The United Nations (UN) are in a crisis, not least because of their lack of democratic legitimacy: too many of the member countries are non-democratic, and internal procedures in the UN are unnecessarily closed to public debate and scrutiny. A panel of eminent experts led by Fernando Enrique Cardoso made proposals for reform. In a contribution to a book on the rule of international law in a globalised world, R. Andreas Kraemer assesses the panel's proposals.

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.