The European Commission is developing a certification mechanism to incentivise the removal of carbon from the atmosphere. To support its development, this report reviews 24 existing carbon removal certification mechanisms and methodologies and identifies key lessons for mechanism design.

Sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere – 'carbon removals' – is essential to achieve Europe's 2050 net-zero climate goals. This report considers twelve nature- and technology-based carbon removal solutions, evaluating their climate mitigation potential and suitability for deployment across Europe. The report supports the European Commission's development of a certification mechanism for carbon removals.

In this publication for the German Federal Environment Agency, the project team (Oeko-Institut, Ecologic Institute, University of Mannheim and the Institute of Development Studies) formulates requirements for a sustainable bioeconomy from the SDGs of the 2030 Agenda. They highlight that the policy goals behind specific implementation have a major impact on the sustainability of the bioeconomy. The positive potential can be unlocked primarily through goals such as ensuring global food security and reducing fossil fuels.

Rural regions in Southeastern and Eastern Europe are facing multiple challenges such as a rural exodus, aging populations, a declining industrial base and low innovation performance. As such, they are particularly vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change. In response to this, stakeholders in the five BE-Rural regions developed bioeconomy strategies and roadmaps for enhanced rural development. This publication presents short summaries of the regional strategies and roadmaps focusing on the regional context in terms of available natural resources, the social, economic and political context, the strategy development process and the priorities outlined in the strategies.

In this open access book, Dr. Josselin Rouillard together with Christina Babbitt (Environment Defense Fund, U.S.), Edward Challies (University of Canterbury, New Zealand) and Jean-Daniel Rinaudo (BRGM, France) compile an international account of water allocation policies supporting a transition to sustainable water use in regions where agriculture is the dominant water use.

This background report examines European Green Deal policies from a resource nexus perspective, identifying relevant challenges and opportunities associated with particular transition pathways foreseen in the European Green Deal. The background report functions as a supporting document to the EEA briefing on these topics entitled "Applying a 'resource nexus' lens to policy: opportunities for increasing coherence". A brief overview of the European Green Deal as well as the resource nexus is included in this introduction to familiarise all readers with the relevant concepts.

Transforming and decarbonising industry is essential for reaching climate-neutrality and the goals of the Paris Agreement. How can the G7 accelerate the decarbonisation of industry? Ecologic Institute's policy brief maps out a number of opportunities and potential priorities for the German Presidency. The Recommendations are available for download.

This EEA technical report was authored by Ecologic Institute and aims to improve the knowledge base on different realities of national protected area management. Based on a semi-structured survey conducted in 12 Member States, the report showcases individual national approaches and practices, as well as challenges and successes in the management of protected areas.

The Climate Action Plan 2050 represents Germany's long-term strategy for climate protection against the background of the Paris Agreement. Within the framework of this project, Ecologic Institute, together with the Oeko-Institut and Prof. Dr. Klinski of the HWR Berlin, supports the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in its work to implement, concretize and update the Climate Action Plan. The predominantly legal, but also partly economic and social scientific support is provided in particular for the development of the Climate Action Programme 2030 and for the legal anchoring and further development of the measures envisaged therein.

This edited volume provides an overview of the political economy of coal in diverse country contexts. It contains 15 country case studies that have been conducted by renowned researchers along a harmonized framework. Countries studied include Australia, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Colombia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Kenya, the Philippines, South Africa, the UK, the US, Turkey and Vietnam.

This policy brief examines current proposals for the further expansion of photovoltaics. It shows that the two central goals – accelerating the PV expansion and involving residents – are in tension with each other, at least in the short term. Based on the analysis, the following sequence of measures is proposed: First, as an immediate intervention, PV plants that feed all of their electricity generation into the grid should be made economically viable again.