Based on a stocktake, we present options to improve international soil governance in the short, medium and long term. The stocktake includes existing international instruments and institutions that are relevant for soil protection and its governance at the international level. It assesses the actual and potential steering effect of, inter alia, the Desertification Convention, the Biodiversity Convention, the Paris Agreement and climate regime, regional treaties, FAO, UNEP, IPBES and IPCC.

On 22 June 2022, experts from various disciplines exchanged views on the transformation of the food system towards a more plant-based diet. More than 400 interested participants attended the event, which is part of the National Dialogue on Sustainable Food Systems in the context of the UN Food Systems Summit.

The aim of this strategy paper is to summarise the results of the National Dialogue on Food Systems on the two thematic areas "Food Economy of the Future" and "Food of the Future – More Plant-Based", particularly with regard to the policy options and instruments discussed there.

This briefing paper, co-authored by Ecologic Institute's Natalia Burgos Cuevas, provides an overview of how the climate change–human mobility nexus has been addressed in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted thus far by South American countries and identifies pathways towards improved management of population movements in revised NDCs. To date, a partial integration of the human mobility perspective prevails: References to the topic indicate a slow – but progressive – acknowledgment of the impacts of a changing climate in vulnerable communities, which may include human displacement. Given the urgent need to move forward from the recognition of the topic to the establishment of effective measures to tackle forced population movements associated with the impacts of climate change, the updating of NDCs – currently under way in the region – entails an opportunity to incorporate strategies aimed at enhancing the management of human mobility.

Hydropower is at the cross-road of different policies on renewable energy, climate change, water and nature. Knowledge of current policies and regulations at different levels is crucial for understanding the framework conditions for more sustainable hydropower. In this chapter, Ecologic Institute's Dr. Eleftheria Kampa examines the role of policy in planning and implementing mitigation actions for European hydropower. The chapter is available for download.

This chapter provides an overview of public perception of hydropower projects, describes methods for studying public acceptance and presents an application of the Q-methodology in four Europe case studies from hydropower-intensive regions. The chapter, written by Mandy Hinzmann, Holger Gerdes (both Ecologic Institute) and Terese E. Venus is available for download.

This open access book presents (selected) new and innovative developments for sustainable and fish-friendly hydropower. It offers unique insights into the challenges, practices and policies of hydropower developments across 8 European countries, providing examples from on-site studies and European-wide analyses. The case studies throughout the book are practical "real-world" examples, which are intended to serve as inspiration for anyone who would like to know more about how solutions for more sustainable hydropower production can be designed and implemented. The book was co-edited by Ecologic Institute's Dr. Eleftheria Kampa. Authors of the Ecologic Institute contributed to the chapters on "Policy Framework for Hydropower Mitigation" and "Public Acceptance of Hydropower."

The study analyses how global governance processes and international law can contribute to reducing resource consumption and making the utilisation of resources more efficient and effective. The study provides a stocktake and assessment of existing international law and of non-legal and certain non-governmental instruments and processes related to resource efficiency of abiotic raw materials and gives an assessment of governance proposals in academic literature. Finally, specific policy options are identified.

This analysis considers options for the global post-2020 chemicals and waste regime. It has been prepared with a view to the intersessional process underway concerning the future of the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) after 2020, as well as the recently launched Alliance for High Ambition on Chemicals and Waste and the parallel explorations concerning global arrangements to address plastic pollution and highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs). These issues overlap and will need to be considered for the post-2020 chemicals and waste management regime. The analysis is available for download.

On 4 July 2022, McKenna Davis from the Ecologic Institute spoke to the 2nd step of this methodology: EXPLORING existing urban greening policies, plans and regulations to identify gaps and understand local needs. Representing the CLEVER Cities project, she provided insights on how to ensure coherent and coordinated policymaking and align objectives across sectors and policies. She also highlighted relevant EU policies and initiatives supporting nature-based solutions to contextualise local action towards NBS mainstreaming.

On 9 May 2022, Europe Day, the Conference on the Future of Europe (CFE) closed – with the adoption of 49 recommendations. This is not the end of the process, but the beginning of new political action. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the role of the CFE as a starting point for renewed discussions on important topics such as climate, energy policy and EU democracy has been reiterated. Indeed, many recommendations from the CFE address EU climate policies – especially the ones prepared by its third citizens' panel on climate change, the environment and health. In this Ecologic Institute paper, Deyana Spasova questions how the panel's recommendations can improve EU climate policy? Where do the recommendations merely reiterate what is already in place? And how could the EU best translate the suggestions into policy action? The paper is available for download.

Citizen assemblies are in high demand – also in the EU. The European Commission wants citizen assemblies to draft future recommendations for key EU legislative projects. The European Parliament is pushing in the same direction. It seems likely that citizen assemblies will become an integral part of the EU decision-making. Dr. Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf asks if this is a good idea and what lessons can be learned from the EU Citizen Assemblies?

This paper presents the results of a rapid review of the literature on gender and coastal climate adaptation conducted for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report (AR6). The findings highlight the lack of data on gender as a social dimension of adaptation and the gaps in current indicators for monitoring the Sustainable Development Goal for gender (SDG5). The paper emphasises the need for gender-disaggregated data on coastal adaptation efforts to fully capture both positive and negative gender dimensions of climate adaptation.

This introductory overview of international soil governance first outlines essential features of international governance by Dr. Ralph Bodle. At the international level, there is no overarching central or superior authority. Rules and other measures normally do not have direct effect at national level; they need to be implemented by their addressees. In contrast to other environmental topics, states have for a long time been reluctant to engage in soil governance at the international level. As a result, international soil governance is piecemeal and spread over parts of different institutions and processes, each of which has limitations. The Sustainable Development Goal “land degradation neutrality” on its own is not a comprehensive soil policy, but its forward-looking planning element in particular is a useful starting point for guiding national policies and further work. While binding rules are not an end in itself, new treaty obligations relating to soil protection could be useful to address gaps and shortcomings in current governance and focus international commitments. Climate change provides an opportunity to increase soil protection e.g. through the climate regime, but there are also risks if soil protection was pursued solely from a climate perspective.

Social concerns around introducing a carbon price for transport and heating fuels (ETS2) are legitimate. But the EU Parliament overshot the mark in its aspiration to cushion households, which becomes apparent in its request for changes to the Social Climate Fund (SCF), write Michael Pahle, Nils aus dem Moore and Benjamin Görlach in their article for EURACTIV.