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Nick Evans

Nick Evans

MA (Environmental Policy and Planning)
BSc (Psychology and German)

Fellow
Transatlantic Coordinator

Team
Topics

Nick Evans is a Fellow at Ecologic Institute. His work focuses on the evaluation of European and international climate governance systems and their effect on and connection to national actions. Further research interests include behavioral economics, sustainable consumption behavior and the psychology of climate change communication. Additionally, he helps coordinate transatlantic topics at Ecologic Institute and serves as liaison to the Konrad von Moltke fund. He is a native English speaker and also works in German.

At Ecologic Institute, Nick has worked on a range of research projects, mostly dealing with how the EU and its Member State manage climate policy-making. In recent years he has investigated specific governance features, such as long-term planning for climate neutrality, scientific climate advisory bodies, and framework laws. 

As part of the team of researchers behind the European Climate Neutrality Observatory, Nick Evans is lead author of two chapters of the annual flagship report: governance and the social dimension of the transition. In 2024, Nick was lead author on a comprehensive survey of national climate governance systems in the EU commissioned by the European Climate Foundation (ECF). He also co-authored a study entitled, "Policy Consistency: What it means, how to measure it, and links with other processes" on the implementation of the EU Climate Law, which investigates new monitoring processes introduced by the law on the consistency of EU and national measures with the 2050 climate neutrality target.

Nick Evans' work on national level climate governance includes a first-of-its-kind assessment of EU Member State long-term climate strategies that was published in 2022 as well as the management of Ecologic Institute's Climate Framework Laws Info-Matrix, which is an online resource on the status and substance of these legislative instruments in European countries. Furthermore, he was lead author of a 2021 study commissioned by the European Environment Agency (EEA) that investigates the landscape of national climate change advisory bodies in Europe and serves as input for a dialogue workshop for the representatives of such bodies from across the continent. In January 2020, he supported a research project funded by the European Climate Foundation (ECF) that systematically analyzes the climate laws in nine EU Member States. The resulting report, entitled "Climate Laws in Europe: Good Practices in Net-Zero Management," was widely disseminated and translated into multiple languages.

For the project, "Qualitative and Quantitative Assessment of EU Member State Low Carbon Development Strategies (MaxiMiseR)", Nick helped develop an indicator-based web tool for the evaluation of EU Member States' long-term climate strategies. The tool was then used by the WWF European Policy Office (EPO) for a comprehensive report comparing long-term climate ambition in select countries. He is also involved with Ecologic Institute's educational programs and taught a seminar section on behavioral change and sustainable consumption at the Duke University (US) summer study abroad program.

In years prior, Nick Evans worked as an independent researcher for Ecologic Institute on numerous projects and was previously employed both as a Transatlantic Fellow supported by a German Academic Exchange Service grant (October 2014 to July 2015) and as a student intern (February 2013 to June 2013).

Nick Evans completed his Master's degree in Environmental Policy and Planning at the Freie Universität Berlin (Germany) and the Technische Universität Berlin (Germany) in 2017. During his studies, he published a research report on behavioral environmental policy through the Environmental Policy Research Center (FFU). His Master's thesis revisited Elinor Ostrom's behavioral theory of collective action and seminal work on polycentric climate governance through the lens of social influence research. He holds a Bachelor of Science in psychology (with a double major in German Studies) from Davidson College, North Carolina (USA).

Nick Evans is a member of the US-based indie rock band Stray Fossa.

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Selected publications by Nick Evans
 
Cover of the report titled 'Raising the bar on national climate governance in the EU' by the Ecologic Institute.

© Ecologic Institute 2024

The European Union's goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 hinges on the decisions made by its Member States. Strong national governance frameworks are crucial for guiding policy-making, gaining societal and political support, ensuring effective implementation,... Read more

Evans, Nick, Paula Schöberlein, Matthias Duwe (2024). Raising the bar on national climate governance in the EU: How EU policy can help Member States deliver certainty, accountability, consensus, and consistency on the road to net zero. Ecologic Institute: Berlin.

 
Cover page of the "2025 Flagship Report: State of EU progress to climate neutrality" by the European Climate Neutrality Observatory (ECNO). The image shows a panoramic view of a green urban park with various climate-related icons overlayed, and a city skyline in the background. The title highlights the report’s focus on indicator-based assessment across 13 building blocks for a climate-neutral future. Dated September 2025.

© Ecologic Institute, 2025

The EU is making promising progress on the road to climate neutrality but needs to keep up the pace to achieve the goal. This is the result of the third progress report by the European Climate Neutrality Observatory (ECNO), which has analysed developments in over 150... Read more

Velten, Eike Karola et al. 2025: 2025 Flagship Report: State of EU progress to climate neutrality. An indicator-based assessment across 13 building blocks for a climate neutral future. European Climate Neutrality Observatory (ECNO).

 
Ecologic Report - Policy consistency: What it means, how to measure it, and links with other processes

© 2023 Ecologic Institute

The EU Climate Law, adopted in summer 2021, represents a significant advancement in EU climate governance. It offers guidance for future policymaking across the entire economy and introduces new progress and policy monitoring mechanisms to ensure EU climate neutrality... Read more

Evans, Nick, Matthias Duwe, Eike Karola Velten (2023): Policy consistency: What it means, how to measure it, and links with other processes. Ecologic Institute, Berlin.