From 16 August to 10 September 2021, the International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP) convened the first ICAP Online ETS Academy. The Academy consisted of four modules (ETS basics, ETS implementation, policy & politics of emissions trading, global & regional action on emissions trading) of one week each. These modules were designed as self-contained learning units, focusing on different aspects of ETS design and implementation, and progressing from basic to intermediate to advanced. Applicants could apply for one, two or three modules. 40-45 carefully selected professionals from the public, nongovernmental, academic and private sectors participated in each module. Participants came from 35 different countries from Latin America, Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. The course offered participants an opportunity to deepen their understanding of ETS design and implementation and provided illustration through hands-on examples, practical experience and case studies.

The "Plastic Pirates" are a citizen science project for young people to research litter pollution in German rivers. The article describes the background and objectives of the project, explains the scientific methodology and presents some of the results from the first years of the project.

In the coming years, the course must be set for the necessary transformation toward a society and economy that is in keeping with the needs for future generations. Science, and sustainability research in particular, has a responsibility to support this change with its resources. But what must science resemble in order to find practicable answers to the most urgent questions of the future? And what demands does this place on the research policy agenda? This event is part of the "Knowledge for Change" series of events celebrating Ecornet's 10th anniversary. Ten years ago, leading independent institutes of environmental and sustainability research in Germany joined forces to form the Ecological Research Network (Ecornet) in order to bring their combined knowledge to bear on the scientific landscape and society. With their practice-oriented, transdisciplinary research, the Ecornet institutes have been accompanying - and actively shaping - socio-ecological change for decades.

Europa its on its way towards a circular economy and has set itself an extremely ambitious plan to this end in the form of the Circular Economy Action Plan; among other things, non-recyclable residual waste is to be halved by 2030. But how is it being put into practice? And what does it take to gain more speed here – for example in the textile sector, which is virtually exemplary for the linear thinking of a throwaway culture.

Infrastructure development in Germany must be increasingly geared towards increased climate targets and the need for decarbonization. At the same time, public participation is still needed to involve the population in the upcoming change processes and to ensure democratic achievements. Thus, leveraging efficiency potentials in planning processes is considered key to manage infrastructure development in a more targeted manner in the years to come. What are the possibilities, limits and sensible approaches to accelerating planning?

Germany wants to become climate-neutral by 2045, the EU by 2050. Both targets became legally binding in 2021, an important breakthrough on the way to structural transformation to a climate-friendly economy. What further breakthroughs are needed to anchor this transformation in society and enable its implementation? How can the responsibility of individuals as well as economic actors for climate protection be realized?

On behalf of the European Parliament, Ecologic Institute with support from IEEP investigate the potential of carbon farming to mitigate emissions in the EU and how to effectively increase carbon farming action. Ahead of two key EU Commission policy proposals in December 2021 (the 'Carbon Farming Initiative' and 'Carbon Removals Certification Mechanism'), the study summarises existing knowledge on carbon farming options, business models, and challenges. It also evaluates funding and policy opportunities to support its uptake.

Forests and the ocean are vital for climate, biological diversity, and human communities, but they are degraded and their ecosystem services are seriously impaired, mainly because financial, economic and governance structures are misconfigured. The authors of this T20 policy brief propose that G20 help strengthen the REDD+ climate instrument for forests and extend it to Blue Carbon from coastal and marine ecosystems. Scaled up to cover the Earth's two largest, most diverse and most productive ecosystems, these two approaches can deliver significant economic and climate benefits. The T20 policy brief is available for download.

Ecologic Institute together with the ICLEI African Secretariat and Durham University co-organized a session 'Urban Action Towards a New Deal for Nature' at the IUCN World Conservation Congress on 7 September 2021. The session, moderated by Ecologic Institute's McKenna Davis, demonstrated the success of urban action for biodiversity through evidence and experiences from around the world.

Just a few weeks before the UN climate summit (COP26), Dr. Camilla Bausch responded to the invitation to contribute to the most recent dossier published by ISPI under the tagline "Climate Change: A Global Fight at a Crossroads". Her timely contribution outlines the complexity of the issues and the international political landscape in the eve of COP26.

Mexico took a significant step forward in January 2020 by initiating the pilot phase of its emissions trading system (ETS), making it the first country in Latin America to adopt such a system. The launch was a key milestone – eight years after the legal basis was established to develop the ETS. In this period the Mexican Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) has been developing the rules for the system, with the objective of reducing emissions efficiently, without affecting the competitiveness of national industries in the international market. To support this endeavour, a consortium of international and local experts came together to provide technical advisory services and capacity building for the successful implementation of the pilot phase and the design of the operational phase for the Mexican ETS.

The goal of the final workshop was to discuss options for action with representatives from the Berlin House of Representatives and various Senate administrations in order to jointly outline which measures and implementation steps would be effective.

In the Ecornet Berlin research partnership, five Berlin institutes of transdisciplinary sustainability research were jointly providing impetus for Berlin's transformation. Their annual conference, "Knowledge. Change. Berlin. 2021" brought current research findings into dialogue with experiences from other cities and the voices of Berlin's practitioners and civil society – for a social and ecological capital.

Europe's environment is in an alarming state, with climate change expected to further aggravate the situation. This substantially threatens economic prosperity, human wellbeing and social peace. Our society and economy need systemic transformative change, and ecosystem restoration integrated into nature-based solutions lies at its heart. MERLIN (Mainstreaming Ecological Restoration of freshwater-related ecosystems in a Landscape context: Innovation, upscaling and transformation) is a 4-year Innovation Action project (funded by the EU) which aims to support transformative ecosystem restoration. The project will work in 17 flagship projects, from Finland to Israel, in order to generate a blueprint for to implement, upscale and replicate restoration and nature based solutions in freshwater ecosystems.

The project "Information and teaching materials for an environmentally conscious use of pharmaceuticals", led by Ecologic Institute, aimed to promote an environmentally responsible use of human pharmaceuticals and to anchor the topic of pharmaceuticals and the environment in pharmaceutical and medical teaching. The overriding goal is to reduce the entry of pharmaceuticals into the environment and their effects on animals and plants. To this end, freely available teaching materials are developed for university teaching, for professional trainings and for vocational schools. In addition, customer information materials on the proper use and disposal of medicines were created and disseminated. Finally, all information and materials were made available on an online information platform at www.uba.de/ham.