The Technical University Berlin hosted the conference "Water – Economic Good, Weapon, Human Right" on 9 February 2005. Ecologic Associate Britta Pielen spoke on the recent trends towards liberalisation in European water policy and the implications for the German water sector. Over the last years, the water and sanitation sector has increasingly been put under reform pressure. In particular at the European level, a political trend towards liberalising the provision of water services can be observed. These attempts are generally justified by the supposedly positive experiences with the liberalisation of other network industries, as well as with stricter environmental and quality requirements.

Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director of the European Environment Agency, presented and discussed her ideas on „Green Ways to Growth“ at an Ecologic/IEEP Dinner Dialogue arranged in her honour on 28 February 2005. Considering the tensions related to emphasising synergies between the economy and the environment on the one hand and the plea for a strong independent environmental policy in its own right on the other, participant statements highlighted aspects of and debated solutions for a green path for growth.

In this article, Sebastian Oberthür and Thomas Gehring argue that a World Environment Organisation (WEO) does not promise to enhance international environmental governance. The authors claim that the establishment of an international organisation alone in a policy field currently populated by regimes cannot be expected to significantly improve environmental governance because there is no qualitative difference between these two forms of governance institutions. This article does not address in detail or extent upon recent proposals for giving more importance to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) or for upgrading it to a special UN organisation.

The federal bill addressing non-discriminatory network access in the energy sector will significantly reform the existing legal framework for grid operators in Germany. A crucial aspect of the reform is the strengthening of rules for vertically integrated energy companies active in production and distribution, as well as grid operation. In her publication, Dr. Camilla Bausch critically analyses and evaluates unbundling rules for the electricity sector against the background of lawmakers' objectives – including promoting competition, reducing conflict of interest cases and quelling market distorting activities.

The Ecologic Dinner Dialogue on 17 February 2005 focused on the role of renewable energies in the USA. It was held to honour Jan McFarland and James H. Caldwell. This "zero-emission-pair" has shown great commitment over the last decades for a change in energy supply leading to an increased use of renewable energies in the USA.

The results of the study "International Comparison of Water Management" have been published in five volumes by the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour and the Austrian Association of Cities. The synthesis and conclusion of the study, which provides a systematic comparison against European and economic background, is now also available in English.

The Evangelische Akademie Loccum hosted a conference on "GATS, EU-internal market and the liberalisation of general services in Germany". Wenke Hansen talked about the quality and price of water services in Europa.

The concept of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), which is based on a cross-sectoral and sustainable management of water resources, is considered as comprehensive approach for addressing current water challenges world-wide. In the context of a publication by the German Institute for Development Policy, various strategies for IWRM are analysed. The contribution of Ecologic discusses the relevance of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) for achieving IWRM in Europe.

On occasion of a dissemination seminar held in the context of the Waterbench project on "Water Utility Performance Benchmarking in Ukraine" Nicole Kranz spoke about selected benchmarking and performance indicator systems, best practice and experience from an international perspective. More than 20 participants representing utilities, municipalities, research institutions, government, administration and NGOs from all regions of Ukraine attended the seminar jointly organised with the Municipal Development Institute, Kiev and the State Committee on Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine.

The study "Control of land use – nature conversation strategies, policies and instruments" is now available for download. The study analyses the legal basis and the conceptual design of nature conversation strategies, policies and instruments for reducing or managing land use in Germany. In addition, implementation deficits of these instruments are identified.

The project aims to support the implementation of third party certification schemes, such as FSC, in the context of public procurement. As several EU Member States are planning to develop public procurement programmes to encourage sustainable forest management, it is timely to undertake thorough analysis of the linkages between public procurement and forest certification.

The dissertation of Ecologic Alumna Kerstin Imbusch deals with policy-making in EU's recent Eastern Enlargement. By comparing the enlargement processes of environmental policy and Home affairs, it shows that EU-actors selected sector-specific approaches to deal with this challenge.