On 7 June 2023, Malek Al Jebaie presented the findings of a joint research investigation conducted by Ecologic Institute, supervised by McKenna Davis, and the International Institute of Industrial Environmental Economics at Lund University at the Ecocity World Summit in London at the Barbican Centre. The presentation primarily focused on the key trends and patterns observed in 151 European cases from the Urban Governance Atlas, whose development was coordinated by Ecologic Institute within the INTERLACE project.

As part of the Future Leaders' Global Policy Forum from 22 to 23 May 2023 in Milan, Benedict Bueb, Researcher at Ecologic Institute, took part in a panel discussion on tackling the climate crisis and its impacts. He was joined on the panel by Abla Abdel Latif, Director of the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES) and Nicola Monti, CEO of Edison. Keynote speeches by Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vera Songwe, Co-Chair of the High Level Panel on Climate Finance of the World Economic Forum (WEF) completed the panel.

At this round table, organized by the TAPP (True Animal Protein Price) Coalition, the panel discussed a study that shows that true costs for animal products that takes into account all societal costs has a positive impact on society. The study was co-authored by Aaron Scheid and Benjamin Görlach from Ecologic Institute.

On 21 March 2023, Aaron Scheid presented Ecologic Institute's analysis of the German CAP Strategic Plan at the NABUtalk on the next CAP reform. He joined State Secretary Silvia Bender and CAP experts Dr. Sebastian Lakner, Sönke Beckmann, and Dr. Norbert Röder to discuss the upcoming CAP reform. They further addressed the issue of phasing out flat-rate payments and creating income for farms by rewarding climate, biodiversity and environmental services. A look at the EU's neighboring countries and the United Kingdom and look at new (and innovative?) models completed the discussion. Aaron's presentation slides are available for download.

Carbon farming promises to mitigate climate change whilst generating income for farmers – but can this promise be realised, and what are the risks? The European Parliament’s Environment and Agricultural Committees held a joint hearing to understand how EU policy can support on-farm carbon sequestration. The hearing featured two panels, including a presentation from Ecologic Institute Fellow Hugh McDonald on the challenges of carbon farming certification.

Alongside Anne Siemons (Oeko-Institut), Hugh McDonald critically presented a soil-focussed assessment of the EU Commission's recently proposed Framework for Carbon Removals Certification.

On 7 February 2023, Aaron Scheid, Fellow at Ecologic Institute, took stock of pesticides in agriculture and discussed possible alternatives.

Building on the momentum created by the negotiations on the Nature Restoration Regulation (NRL) as well as by the overall successful outcome of the biodiversity summit COP15, the think tank network "Think Sustainable Europe" (TSE) met with EU Environment Commissioner Sinkevičius. As part of TSE, Ecologic Institute presented key recommendations on the NRL. These build on a series of policy briefs by Ecologic Institute and IEEP respectively, and were well received and aroused great interest both in the EU Commission and the European Parliament.

From 7 to 19 December 2022, the international community is scheduled to come together to discuss the future of the Convention on Biological Diversity. One of the key items that will be negotiated at the upcoming COP15 is the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. In the light of these upcoming negotiations on 2 November 2022, the Guarini Center on Environmental, Energy and Land Use Law at New York University School of Law and the German Consulate General in New York organized an event with experts from New York City and Berlin to discuss the role of local governments in implementing global biodiversity targets, including the ways in which cities can support urban biodiversity. Sandra Naumann, Senior Fellow at the Ecologic Institute, presented Berlin's strategy to promote urban biodiversity and participated in the final panel.

Dr. Stephan Sina, Senior Fellow of Ecologic Institute, gave a speech at the international academic conference "Towards the Polish Climate Protection Act" on 7 September 2022 in Szczecin (Poland). He presented the main features of the German Federal Climate Change Act and its revision based on the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court on 24 March 2021. He also participated in the panel discussion.

Carbon farming refers to a range of agricultural techniques that increase the ability of the soil to sequester carbon from the atmosphere. This is crucial to achieving the European Green Deal goal of becoming CO₂-neutral by 2050. However, there are still many political and technical issues. Ecologic Institute's panel discussions included input on the report "Carbon farming. Making agriculture fit for 2030" and presented further thinking on carbon farming.

The question of the limits to growth is more relevant than ever. Historically, economic growth has almost always been accompanied by increasing environmental damage. The policies of European countries now want to break this historical link through "green growth". The economy should continue to grow, but without negative consequences for the environment. From a scientific perspective, however, it is disputed whether such a decoupling is realistic. Dr. Michael Jakob from Ecologic Institute discussed this apparent contradiction between politics and science with Prof. Dr. Doris Fuchs and Dr. Steffen Lange during a press briefing on 25 February 2022.

How can European citizens become architects of the cities of tomorrow? The New European Bauhaus is an initiative to make our living spaces and experiences more beautiful, sustainable and inclusive. Nature-based solutions are seen as a key element to achieve this vision. To this end, the hybrid conference 'LIFE in the New European Bauhaus' was held from 15 until 17 November 2021. Sandra Naumann from the Ecologic Institute was invited as an expert to share insights from the H2020 INTERLACE project.

Delivering for "People, Planet, Prosperity" is the proclaimed aim of the Italian G20 Presidency. The question as to how the G20 should work towards this aim was discussed at the Think 20 (T20) Summit in Milan in early October. The T20 Summit brought together 51 speakers, over 800 in-person participants and 16,000 online attendees from all over the world, reaching over 1 million people through social media.

All over the world, the number of think tanks is growing. They differ greatly regarding their focus areas, their structures and their business models. But what do they have in common and why are they needed? In an interview with André Martinuzzi of the European Sustainable Development Network (ESDN), Dr. Camilla Bausch (Director of Ecologic Institute) reflects on the role and the objectives of environmental think tanks with respect to some of the most relevant policy fields of our times, including the European Green Deal.