<p>Laudato Si': To Care for our Common Home. Pope Francis' encyclical has created widespread conversation within and beyond the Catholic community. Camilla Bausch of Ecologic Institute along with Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Klaus Töpfer, Hartmut Graßl, Anton Losinger, Mary Evelyn Tucker and other prominent voices from science, policy and theology provided insights on this discussion at the Institute of Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) three day international workshop on the Papal Encyclical.</p>&#13;

The 40th Cairo Climate Talks, titled "Putting Paris into Effect: Climate Change Action in Africa" brought together decision-makers as well as representatives from business, academia and civil society. Ecologic Institute's Lena Donat provided the European perspective on the outcome of the Paris climate summit and the future negotiation process.

The German Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU) presented on 25 February 2016 a statement entitled "Environment and Free Trade: Environmentally sound design of TTIP". Following the presentation of the statement by Prof. Dr. Christian Callies, a member of the SRU, a panel discussion was held. Christiane Gerstetter, Senior Fellow, Ecologic Institute, was one of the participants, next to Prof. Dr. Gesine Schwan and Dr. Stormy-Annika Mildner.

On invitation of the Rock Environment and Energy Institute Susanne Langsdorf, Fellow at Ecologic Institute, took part in an "Energy Transformation Roundtable Discussion" in Beijing on November 3rd 2015. At the roundtable a group of international experts presented and discussed different "roadmaps" to an energy transition. Susanne Langsdorf presented the energy transition ("Energiewende") in Germany.

In two presentations Ina Krüger (Ecologic Institute) introduced the work of Ecologic Institute at the 13th International Conference "EUROPE-INBO 2015" for the implementation of the European Water Directives. In a short presentation at the round table 'The financing of water policy and economic analysis' Ina Krueger presented the results of an evaluation of the water abstraction charge and the compensation payments to farmers in the state of Baden-Württemberg (Germany). The presentation slides are available for download.

The Arctic Summer College (ASC) is proud to have recently completed its fifth successful year. This year, the Arctic Summer College had the exciting opportunity of hosting a breakout session at the Arctic Circle Assembly on 16 October 2015 in Reykjavík. Ecologic Institute's Arne Riedel, Max Grünig and Katherine Weingartner took part in the conference as part of the German delegation.

"Opportunities for and barriers to German-French contributions to the Climate Conference in Paris" was the topic of a panel discussion on 16 October 2015. The German-French association Gerhard Kiersch Verein / AGKV organized the event. The discussion addressed the question of how Germany and France could contribute to the success of the global climate conference and which obstacles still need to be overcome.

Prof. Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer (MCC) and Hildegard Müller (BDEW) extended an invitation for 15 October 2015 to discuss the topic "The Climate Conference in Paris – and then?" Franziska Erdle (WirtschaftsVereinigung Metalle), Dr. Camilla Bausch (Ecologic Institute) and Christoph Bals (Germanwatch) provided commentary to the introductory talks of Edenhofer and Müller.

Stephan Sina, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, joined Bettina Kampman from CE Delft on 2 July 2015 to present and discuss a mid-term evaluation of the Renewable Energy Directive at Directorate-General for Energy (DG Energy) in Brussels (Belgium). The study had been carried out by a consortium of CE Delft, Ricardo-AEA, Ecologic Institute, E-Bridge and REKK, and been published recently on DG Energy's website. The presentation is available for download.

The Energy Union is a central project of the European Union. The aim is to build an integrated energy market that provides secure, affordable and sustainable energy to all European citizens. On 10 June 2015, Katharina Umpfenbach discussed options for implementing the Energy Union with stakeholders from central and eastern Europe at a conference jointly organised by the Prague Institute for Global Policy (glopolis), the Delegation of the European Commission to the Czech Republic and the Heinrich Böll Foundation Prague. In her contribution, Katharina Umpfenbach emphasised the opportunities of putting decarbonisation at the heart of the Energy Union. Renewable energies and energy efficiency have enormous potential to replace costly energy imports and drive innovation in the EU.

The upcoming negotiations in Paris on the future global climate regime were the topic of the 30th Cairo Climate Talks in Egypt. Top level participants from the Egyptian Ministry of Environment, the French and German Embassies and Ecologic Institute’s own Dr. Camilla Bausch provided varying perspectives on the challenges and opportunities regarding the upcoming 21st Conference of Parties (COP21). Dr. Khaled Fahmy, Egyptian Minister of the Environment, offered critical insights into the current framework in Egypt, while German Ambassador Hansjörg Haber and French Ambassador André Parant served as hosts for the evening discussion.

Energy security was the topic of a lively dialogue during the 30th German Canadian Conference in Brussels (Belgium). Representing countries with very different energy and climate policy, Michael Keenan, Associate Deputy Minister of National Resources Canada, and Dr. Camilla Bausch, Director of Ecologic Institute, outlined important aspects of their respective national debate before engaging in an exchange with the high-level participants.

The German research agenda in 2015 focuses on the future of cities ("Wissenschaftsjahr Zukunftsstadt"). This topic is also reflected in the curricula of schools. On 20 January 2015, ninety 9-year-old schoolchildren from Potsdam came together to watch the movie "Der blaue Tiger" and then discuss sustainable urban development from their perspectives. Stephanie Wunder, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, was invited to talk with them about the challenges of urban development, sustainability, the participation of children, and other issues.

Christiane Gerstetter and Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf spoke on regulatory cooperation and investment protection in the stakeholder forum "TTIP re:negotiate" in Berlin on 17 November 2014. The event was co-organized by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC (USA).

Christiane Gerstetter, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, participated in a panel discussion at the representation of the German state of Baden-Württemberg in Berlin. She presented among other things the results of a study on regulatory cooperation in the context of the planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The presentation is available for download.