“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).

At the 45th Congress of the European Regional Science Association (ERSA), Benjamin Görlach and Eduard Interwies presented some research results on the valuation of environmental and resource costs in Germany. The lecture took place as part of a special session on water and economics in the frame of the 45th ERSA Congress, held at the Free University of Amsterdam. The special session was organised with support by the Dutch RIZA, and was chaired by Eduard Interwies.

The rise in the number of environmental institutions at the international level can be seen as a source of inconsistency within the implementation, enforcement, and rule-making processes of the environmental governance system. In this discussion paper, Ecologic Institute provides background information and several detailed maps to illustrate the spatial dispersion of the various institutions. The publication is available for download.

The worldwide emergence of public policy research organizations has occurred only recently. Compared to the US, the concept of "think tanks" is relatively new in Germany, and there are only a very limited number of institutions active in policy research and policy consulting. On 12 August 2005 Markus Knigge, Fellow at Ecologic, gave a presentation at the Bucerius Summer School on how Ecologic – one of the few German think tanks – contributes to environmental policy making on the German, European and international level.

The increased use of renewable resources has several positive environmental effects in comparison to the use of fossil fuel. Nevertheless, with an extended cultivation of energy crops and other renewable resources, there may also be negative consequences on soil quality. The evaluation of these effects is the focus of this project.

One of the key elements of the latest 2003 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is compulsory compliance with environmental, food safety, animal welfare, and animal and plant health standards. Additionally it is required that farmers maintain their farmland in good agricultural and environmental condition as a condition for receiving direct payments. The project will focus on the investigation of the value-added resulting from introducing cross-compliance as a tool to improve compliance with existing standards; and the investigation of the cost implications and competition effects of compliance to EU standards on the world market.

All companies which dispose of IPPC installations must meet the requirements of the Directive by the 30 October 2007.  The central purpose of the event is to provide the entrepreneurs concerned with the basic knowledge which is necessary for the fulfilment of the requirements of the Directive.

In order to implement its obligations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as required under the Kyoto Protocol, the European Community elaborated a directive establishing a community-wide greenhouse gas trading system. Ecologic has been commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment to analyse the legal framework for implementing the directive in Germany and also to draft the implementing legislation. In addition Ecologic developed provisions for the implementation of the flexible Mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol.

In environmental matters, modern society is living at the cost to future generations. This was the main issue discussed at the Young Leaders Congress 2005 "Ecological Generational Justice into the Constitution", which brought together more than 50 participants from all over Europe and beyond. At the event, Ecologic Fellow Markus Knigge chaired a panel discussion with Karsten Sach, Head of the Division for International Affairs in the German Ministry for the Environment, and Manfred Bergman, Head of the Unit for Evaluation of Transport, Environment and Energy in the European Commission, on where we are in achieving ecological generational justice in Europe.

The international workshop "Implementing the Economic Aspects of the WFD – Future Challenges in the Elbe River Basin" took place in Leipzig on 7 and 8 July 2005 and was mainly organised by Ecologic Associate Britta Pielen. In the course of the workshop, Benjamin Görlach gave an overview of the Member States' current approaches to assessing disproportionate costs in implementing the European Water Framework Directive.

Policy makers are increasingly in need of accurate and timely information in order to meet reporting requirements linked to environmental legislation. This paper explores the extent to which Earth Observation (EO) based services, addressed by the joint ESA and EC initiative "Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES)", can contribute to meeting the special reporting requirements of the major European Union water policy, namely the Water Framework Directive (WFD).

In order to meet reporting requirements linked to environmental legislation, policy makers are increasingly in need of accurate and timely information on water quality. This paper explores how and to what extent new monitoring devices can help European Union members meet the special requirements of the Water Framework Directive (WFD).

Local and regional institutions are essential for effectively tackling local environmental problems and for implementing policies that address global environmental challenges. In recent years, a number of transatlantic partnerships between regional and local institutions have evolved in order to change information and best practices in the environmental policy area. The Heinrich Boell Foundation organised an informal dinner on 12 July 2005 during which Ecologic Fellow Markus Knigge gave a speech on the role, the functioning and the effectiveness of transatlantic environmental partnerships, and discussed his findings with the participants present.